I'll Show You
by nejiandtentenfan
Summary: No one understood how hard Tenten worked to become a great kunoichi. In this fic, Tenten will show them all what she's really capable of. This is the sequel to Hospitalized. [NejiTen]
1. Flat Chested?

**A/N: This is for a story request from Leah Williams. I don't own Naruto. Enjoy!**

**---**

Chapter 1: Flat Chested?

Neji rolled over in his bed nervously, sweat dripping from his face, eyes squeezed tight. He was having a dream that turned into a horrible nightmare.

"_Neji, you have grown a lot stronger since our last training session!" Hizashi Hyuuga's words rang in Neji's head. _My dad is proud of me, _thought 7-year-old Neji happily._

_They ended their training session. Neji's dad smiled at Neji and said, "Neji, I have figured out a way for you to improve!"_

_Neji nodded eagerly for his father to continue._

_Neji's father took a deep breath before saying, "I want you…"_

_Neji nodded again, telling himself he would remember every single word his father said._

_Hizashi smiled sinisterly and said in an evil voice, "TO DIE!"_

_He grabbed Neji's neck and was trying to strangle him. Neji couldn't believe it! This couldn't be his own father! His dad would never try killing him._

_Neji thought harder…his dad was dead._

Neji woke up from his troubled slumber, panting hard and sweating like crazy.

Tenten, who was sleeping next to him, opened her eyes and asked sleepily, "Neji…?"

She yawned, "What's the matter?"

Neji snapped back into reality and his hard uneven breathing slowed down. He looked at Tenten and muttered to himself, "It was just a dream…"

Tenten looked at him with worried eyes. He looked into those irresistable chocolate eyes and said, "Nothing. Just go back to sleep."

She looked at him one more time before giving in and pulling the covers back up to her shoulders and falling asleep.

Neji watched his lover, her eyes closed. They were both 21 now and they still hadn't gotten officially married. Even though Neji had "proposed" to her a few years ago, they had just been living together, I guess that counts right? Living together…getting married…close enough!

Neji glanced at the sleeping kunoichi once more and fell back asleep, not having another nightmare.

Neji had been getting several nightmares these past few days. Possibly because he had "overworked" himself with too many missions according to Tenten. He felt tired and sleepy during several missions, maybe he _was _overworking himself.

---

The next morning, Neji felt something icy cold being laid on his forehead. He winced at whatever was causing the coldness, and opened his eyes. He saw Tenten leaning over him. She was putting a cold towel on his forehead.

He looked at the girl with curious eyes and said weakly, "Tenten…what are you doing?"

Tenten jumped a little when she heard his voice. She had not expected him to be awake. She smiled warmly at Neji and explained, "I felt your forehead this morning and you were burning up."

Tenten paused a little and scolded in an I-told-you-so voice, "I told you you were overworking yourself!"

Neji briefly rolled his eyes before muttering, "Why am I so weak?"

Tenten overheard his thoughts and said, "Just stay in bed for today, ok?"

Neji gave her a funny look and questioned, "Why don't you just heal me? You've had some training from Sakura!"

Tenten shook her head, "As a semi medical ninja, I have to make sure you rest! Even if I restore your chakra supply, nothing will really happen if you don't rest up!"

Neji scowled. Tenten gave him a forceful look and that was the end of that.

Neji gazed out of his bedroom window. He recalled the dream he had. He thought about his father, and he saw the faint image of his mother. Over the years, she had died too. The two parents of Neji rested in peace together now.

His mother had been attacked while Neji and Tenten weren't in the house. Neji still remembered that day he came back with Tenten.

_FLASHBACK_

_Just almost a year ago, Neji opened the door to his house, Tenten right behind him. They had just gotten back from a mission together in the Sound Village. Neji stopped right in front of the doorway when he caught a glimpse of who was laying dead on the floor, kunais sticking out of her dead corpse._

_It was his mother. Tenten gasped in shock and brought her hands up to cover her mouth when she saw the female Hyuuga._

_Neji clenched his fists and picked her up. He carried her dead body all the way to the Hokage's office, eyes staring at him on his way. Tenten lagged behind him the whole way, looking worried._

_Tsunade-sama heard a knock on her door. She quickly hid the sake in her hand._

_She cleared her throat and said in a responsible voice, "Come in."_

_Neji pushed the door open and the Fifth immediately noticed the dead body he was carrying._

_She understood what had happened and explained to him, "Your mother…has she never told you…?"_

_Neji looked at her blankly, "Told me what?"_

_She shook her head a little and stared at the desk in front of her, "We all knew this was coming."_

_Neji threw her a questioning look, "What do you mean, we?"_

_She looked at him, pain in her eyes, and said, "Well…Hinata's mother committed a crime before you were born, but it was an accidental crime. Mizuki, who she thought was a friend of hers, told her that the Sound Village had stolen a scroll from him and asked her to get it back for him…"_

_She bit her lower lip and continued, "She asked him why he didn't get it himself, and he said only an adult female Hyuuga could unlock the chamber that it was in. Little did she know that the scroll she was going after actually rightfully belonged to the Sound Village, though it was true that only a Hyuuga woman could open the chamber."_

_Neji questioned Tsunade, "There are Hyuugas in the Sound Village?"_

_Tsunade shook her head, "No, only people born in the Sound Village and Hyuuga women could open the chamber. That's why Mizuki needed Hinata's mom to do it, she's one of the few people in Konoha who possesses the power to open the chamber."_

_She sighed heavily and continued, "She took the scroll and gave it to Mizuki, unaware of the crime she had just committed. The Sound Village knew only two adult female Hyuugas live in Konoha, and they are your mother and Hinata's."_

_Neji clenched his fists, _she couldn't have sacrificed herself…

_Tsunade paused for a second, debating whether or not she should tell him. She reluctantly started, "Your mother…took the blame in order for the main branch to continue…and the Sound Village said they would kill your mother when her child was an adult. Since you are 21, which is considered an adult, they came and killed your mother while you and Tenten weren't around to protect her…"_

_Neji spoke softly, teeth gritted, "Both my parents died protecting the main branch."_

_Tenten hugged Neji from behind and held onto him, she could feel his heavy breathing. She reminded him softly, "It's ok…both my parents died in a burning building…"_

_Neji laid his mother down gently._

"_ANBU will take care of her body," Tsunade assured him._

_Tsunade apologized for the tragedy and the couple silently left. Right before they walked out the door, Neji told her, "Drinking is a major taboo for ninjas."_

_Tsunade blushed and stammered, "Wh-what are you talking about?"_

_Neji said blankly, "I could smell the sake you were hiding the minute I walked in."_

_Tsunade blushed redder but remained speechless._

_Neji closed the door behind him and walked back to his home, Tenten and him had nothing to say the whole way there._

_END OF FLASHBACK_

Neji turned his attention to Tenten as she came out of the bathroom, dressed and ready for what the day had to offer.

She hadn't changed at all since she was 16, or maybe it was just that Neji had spent every single day of his life with her since they were that age. To him, she was still the most adorable person he had ever seen in his life.

Tenten was putting her hair up into her signature twin buns when a blonde shinobi came busting into their room.

Tenten screamed as she recognized the boy, "NARUTO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"

Naruto grinned slyly and said, "The front door was open so I invited myself in."

Tenten slapped him hard across the face, making Neji smirk. She yelled at him, "Hasn't anyone taught you any manners?!"

Naruto shook his head, his face fell a little, "I've never had parents, remember?"

Tenten sighed and said, "Well, Iruka Sensei must have taught you SOMETHING about not barging into peoples' houses without knocking."

Naruto shook his head and grinned again.

Tenten sighed again and asked in a defeated tone, "What are you here for?"

Naruto's faace became serious again as he remembered why he was here. "Right," he looked at Neji, "Tsunade-sama has a mission for the three of us. We're going to the Sound Village." He looked back at Tenten again.

Neji twitched a bit when he heard 'Sound Village,' an image of his mom's dead body flashed through his mind.

Tenten's brow furrowed, "The three of us…what about Lee?"

Naruto shook his head, "Nope. Lee is on a mission with Gai Sensei."

Tenten had an irritated look on her face, _why are Lee and Gai Sensei always going on missions without me and Neji? What happened to the old Team Gai?_

Tenten sighed, her and Neji had already gone on several missions with Naruto instead of Lee and Gai Sensei, and things just weren't the same. Things felt out of place.

But no matter what, they didn't have a choice. It was the Fifth's choice. Tenten looked over at Neji, who was lying on the bed, watching the blonde haired boy.

"Well…" Tenten hesitated, "You'll just have to tell Tsunade-sama that Neji can't go."

Naruto raised an eyebrow and smirked at Neji. He said in a baby voice, "Is wittle Neji sick today?"

Naruto snickered to himself. Neji looked at Tenten and yelled, "Tenten, I'm fine!"

Tenten firmly shook her head.

Naruto looked at Tenten and said, "Tenten, if we don't take Neji, we'll be killed."

Tenten glared at Naruto, "Are you saying that I'm not capable of taking care of myself?"

Naruto quickly shook his head and said nervously, "No no no! I'm just saying…'

Tenten slapped him hard across the face again. An upset fox boy rubbed his red cheek and moaned, "Tenten! Pleeease, just let Neji come along!"

Tenten thought about it. Neji was the strongest out of the three of them. She weighed the consequences and finally sighed, "Fine. Neji can come."

Naruto hopped in that air and yelled, "YES!" He pumped his fist in the air, symbolizing a victory. Tenten just watched in irritation, beginning to lose her patience.

"Just leave us in peace to get ready, will you?" Tenten implored.

Naruto nodded and grinned widely, "I'll be in the living room waiting then!"

Tenten nodded and just watched the fox boy leave hopelessly, _Neji's not gonna be strong enough to fight._

Neji walked over to the wooden drawer and pulled some fresh traditional Hyuuga robes out. He pulled off the big white T-shirt he had been wearing and revealed his muscular upper body. Tenten watched him change, a slight blush in her cheeks.

Neji turned around, revealing his muscular shoulders and back, and said blankly, "A little privacy, Tenten?"

Tenten shot at him, "If you don't want me watching, go to the bathroom to change!"

Neji smirked, but didn't budge. He just continued to change into his robes. He finished putting on the last piece of cloth when he felt something run through his hair. It was Tenten attempting to brush his long hair.

He turned his head quickly, "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Tenten replied plainly.

She ran the brush through Neji's silky hair several times before commenting, "Whoever cut your hair did a really nice job…"

Neji pushed her hand away from his head and frowned, "That's enough."

Tenten giggled and set the brush back on the table she had found it on.

Tenten walked over to the door and walked into the living room, Neji closely following her.

Naruto grinned and said cheerfully, "My my my, you two look cute today!"

Tenten giggled, but Neji scowled at this remark. _Cute? Hyuugas don't look cute…although Tenten says that all the time…_

Tenten asked, her mood brightening a little, "So…what are we doing?"

Naruto's facial expression was a little more serious now. He cleared his throat, "Right, the mission…we're supposed to go to the Sound Village and rescue a small girl named…darn it what's her name…"

Tenten watched in embarassment as Naruto tried to recall the girl's name.

"Let's see…Keima…no no…Mako…no…Kacie…no…"

Tenten interrupted his thoughts, "Keiko?"

Naruto smiled widely and yelled, "KEIKO! THAT'S IT! How did you know, Tenten-san?"

Tenten sighed, "Naruto…Keiko is just a really common name…"

"Oh," Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head in embarassment, "Anyways, we have no time to waste! Keiko's been trapped in the Sound Village by Aoi Rokusho."

Tenten and Neji both nodded, neither of them remembering who Aoi Rokusho was, but it didn't really matter, he was an enemy, that's all they needed to know.

Naruto ran out the door and Neji and Tenten ran behind him.

The sun was scorching outside, with a slight breeze. Tenten was already working up a sweat and they had only been sprinting for a few minutes…only two more hours of sprinting before they reach the Sound Village.

Neji looked back at the panting Tenten and lectured, "You haven't been training enough, Tenten."

Tenten hated when people pointed out her wrongs, even if it was Neji. She glared at him and said, "Focus on yourself, Hyuuga."

Neji ignored her rude remark and continued to sprint forward.

_FLASHBACK_

_When they were only 16 years old,Tenten, Lee, and Neji were all sprinting through the forest ontop of large tree branches, Gai Sensei in the lead. They were on a mission to help the Sand Village. Tenten lagged behind and complained in her high voice, "We've been going at it for hours, can we take a break?"_

_The three other shinobi looked back at the complaining kunoichi, but Lee was the one who spoke up, "You haven't been training enough, Tenten."_

_Tenten didn't reply, but she hated people who told her she didn't work hard enough. _How would they know how hard I train? How would they understand how hard it is for a kunoichi to mold her body into the ideal figure of a shinobi? _Tenten thought to herself._

_END OF FLASHBACK_

She was tired of hearing that she didn't train enough. She put long hours into toning her body perfectly. She put in too much sweat, blood, and tears to have someone tell her she wasn't trying hard enough.

Tenten suddenly realized Naruto and Neji were no longer in front of her. _Oh no! Have I lagged that far behind? _Tenten started panicking, but she looked behind her and saw two tiny figures hopping from branch to branch.

Tenten apparently had gotten so worked up from her thoughts that she had surpassed her teammates without even realizing it.

She smirked and called back to the Hyuuga that had teased her earlier, "Oi Neji! You haven't been training enough, huh?"

Neji glared at her and quickly swiftened his pace. He was sprinting right alongside her now. Naruto looked hopelessly at the two, _how can those two move so fast?_

Naruto called after them, "Oi! Let's take a break…please?"

Neji and Tenten both looked back at Naruto and nodded their heads. They both dropped from the branch they were on and landed gently on the ground. Naruto met them there.

Neji was leaning against a tall tree, while Tenten was sitting ontop of a big boulder. Neither of them were panting very hard, but Tenten's face was glistening slightly with perspiration. Naruto grinned, "You ok Tenten? You really worked up a sweat…"

Tenten glared at him and snapped, "Do you know how much more endurance shinobis are born with than kunoichis? My physical condition is already considered excellent for a kunoichi!"

Naruto, still grinning said, "Whatever you say Tenten…"

Tenten just continued to glare at him without saying anything, _fine, I don't care if Naruto doesn't believe me._

Although Naruto didn't believe Tenten, Neji knew Tenten was honest. One of the first things he noticed about her when they were 16 was how nicely toned her arms and legs were. In addition to that, one of the nights Neji had slept with Tenten, he had seen how toned her abs were also. She didn't quite have a six pack, but she had a slender sort of muscular stomach.

Neji got off from the tree he was leaning on and said to them, "Let's go."

Naruto's jaw dropped a few inches. His eyes were extremely wide. He yelled, "WHAT?! WE'VE ONLY BEEN SITTING HERE FOR FIVE MINUTES!!!"

Neji lectured him, "We have no time to waste. Besides, we only have about an hour's worth of sprinting left."

Naruto let out a heavy sigh but hesitantly jumped onto a tree branch.

Tenten didn't whine when she jumped on the tree branch. She had made an oath to herself that she would not show her weak side during this mission. She would show them that she was even more of a shinobi than Neji and Naruto combined.

They started to sprint again, when Naruto asked Neji loudly, "So Neji…"

A grin passed the blonde boy's lips, "What's it like to sleep with Tenten every night."

Neji's cheeks flushed red with embarassment.

"Shut up Naruto!" Tenten yelled at him, taking the words out of Neji's mouth.

Naruto snickered to himself, _I love it when Tenten gets mad. She pretty much freaks out._

Believe it or not, Naruto didn't like making all girls angry. He only liked making Tenten and Ino angry. It wasn't because he didn't like them, he just knew that they were pretty hard headed and could take the teasing. As for Hinata…well…she's a pretty fragile one.

Sakura's pretty hard headed too, but Naruto's seen her cry too many times to want to pick on her any farther. In addition to that, the Haruno has the strength of the Fifth Hokage, and making her mad will result in Naruto's funeral.

Sprinting was boring, so Naruto kept entertaining himself. He picked on Tenten indirectly. He would keep asking Neji questions about Tenten loudly.

"So Neji! Tell me…when do you think Tenten will start puberty? I mean it's obvious she hasn't yet even though she's 21, I mean just look at her flat chest!" Naruto laughed to himself even harder at the words that slipped out of his mouth.

He suddenly felt Tenten's foot dig hard into his back. He was sent flying into a tree. Tenten sprinted ahead of him and called, "That'll teach you!"

Tenten continued to mutter about Naruto's comments about her figure, "Flat chested…that dobe doesn't know what he's talking about…"

**A/N: To be continued. Please comment/review, thanks!**


	2. Endurance

**A/N: I don't own Naruto. Enjoy!**

**---**

Chapter 2: Endurance

Neji suddenly stopped, keeping his balance on the large tree branch. He stuck his arm out to the side, indicating for Tenten and Naruto to stop. Tenten stopped right behind his extended arm and asked, "Why are we…"

But before she could finished her thought, Neji forcefully put his hand over her mouth. She said in a muffled voice, "Neji…wh-what are you?"

Neji shushed her and Tenten understood she was to be quiet. He lowered his hand from her mouth, allowing Tenten to gasp for air. "We're 50 yard away from the enemy's lair…all we have to do is ambush them quietly…and we should be able to…" Neji whispered, but his thoughts were cut off.

A blonde boy rushed past Neji and Tenten in a blur shouting, "SO THIS IS THE ENEMY'S HIDEOUT, EH? WELL WE'LL HAVE YOU BAD GUYS KNOW, WE ARE AT THE TOP OF OUR GAME TODAY AND WE ARE GONNA KICK BUTT!"

Tenten slapped her forehead, embarassed at how little Naruto has learned since he was a Genin. Neji's veins were throbbing in irritation, _that dobe, hasn't he learned anything these past 18 years?_

Neji started sprinting and called back to Tenten, "New battle plan! We have to attack with full force now that we are exposed to the enemy!"

Tenten nodded, a grin finding it's way on her face. She quickened her pace, making it almost impossible to see her with the naked eye.

They reached the entrance of the Sound Village, and there in plain sight was Keiko and her captor, Aoi Rokusho. Keiko was bound up in a thick rope, a piece of tape over her mouth.

Neji scowled, as Naruto yelled his signature move, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" About 100 blonde haired, blue eyed clones popped out of puffs of smoke.

Tenten smirked, _good thing Naruto's improved at SOMETHING._

Aoi Rukusho quickly jumped high into the air and opened a large umbrella, a perpetual smirk on his lips. Naruto's eyes widened, he suddenly remembered who this was…_that umbrella, oh no!_

About 3,000 thin needles quickly flew at Naruto, but Naruto was expecting this. He quickly dodged all of them and warned his comrades, "Neji! Tenten! Look out, those needles are dipped in poison!"

Tenten smirked, "Weapon user, eh? This shouldn't be too hard."

Neji warned her quickly, "Tenten, don't overestimate yoursel…" bur before Neji had a chance to completely warn her, she took off the ground and started drawing weapons from a large scroll.

Neji sighed, _look out Tenten._

She yelled, "Soshoyru (Rising Twin Dragons)!"

Instantly, two large dragons of smoke appeared out of Tenten's large scroll and turned into smaller scrolls. Tenten leaped up and twirled a few times, getting fancy. She drew several weapons and a time hurled all of them at him, controlling them with chakra strings at the tips of her fingers.

Aoi opened his umbrella and the weapons couldn't get past it, Tenten watched in awe. _So the umbrella is used as a shield too…_

"AHHHHH!" Tenten heard Naruto yell in pain, and she turned her attention in his direction. She saw the fox boy lying on the ground, doubled over in pain. He was clutching his stomach, and his face was covered in blood. _Sheezus, what happened to you Naruto?_

"Naruto! Did you get poisoned?" Tenten called to make sure her comrade didn't need immediate medical attention.

Naruto was too pained to talk, so Neji explained for him, "No. He just got kicked and stepped on."

"Oh…" Tenten thought. For Naruto's face to be that bloody, Aoi must be seriously strong.

Everyone's attention was turned to Naruto, so the Hyuuga prodigy took this opportunity to try to save Keiko. He swiftly rushed in her direction, but Aoi saw this movement out of the corner of his eye. He smirked, "Oh no you don't!"

A thousand needles, with purple poison at the end of each point, were hurled at Neji. Neji froze, he couldn't dodge them, there was no way. The needles were coming at all different angles.

Tenten's heart almost stopped at the sight. "NEJI!" she screamed.

She couldn't just watch her lover be poisoned to death, and she wouldn't just stand around like…like some useless kunoichi!

She rushed to Neji from behind and wrapped her arms around him. They both ended up skidding on their knees, but Tenten received all the shots. She screamed in pain. Neji blinked a few times, _did…did a kunoichi just save me?_

He stood up and watched Tenten as she limply fell flat on her face, not able to get up. Her whole back side was covered in needles, and Neji could see the blood leaking out from her mouth. _Did she…just risk her life…for me…?_

And image shot through Neji's head. He saw the faint face of his dad saying, "Son. Risk your life for the people you love. The rewards will be greater than you think."

Neji clenched his fists, _no one hurts Tenten. _He charged at Aoi with all his might and 64 palmed him to the ground. Aoi, caught by surprised, looked at the boy that was now ontop of him. Without even giving Aoi a chance to say a few last words, he stuck a kunai in his throat. Honestly, Neji could be pretty merciless at times, especially when someone hurt Tenten.

You could hear a faint gasp for air as Neji pierced his flesh. Aoi died with his eyes open, but Neji kindly closed them for him.

He walked over to Keiko and untied her, he laid his hand on her shoulder, but quickly felt something odd. "Byakugan!" Neji breathed forcefully. He squinted his eyes and intensely looked at the girl's chakra system.

Neji cursed colorfully, "A clone."

He stabbed the girl with a kunai and she dissappeared in a puff of smoke. Apparently, Aoi Rokusho had the ability to create "shadow clones" of other people, which is a difficuilt technique.

Neji clenched his fists as he looked back at Naruto, lying limply on the ground, face still gushing with blood, and then at Tenten, covered in poison needles and blood leaking out of her mouth.

Suddenly he heared a semi-high voice yell, "Neji-san!"

Neji turned to looked at where the voice came from, it was Lee and Gai Sensei. They were hopping along tree branches frantically, trying to reach Neji and his comrades. They landed at the entrance to the Sound Village and Gai froze, Lee gasped. Lee couldn't rip his eyes off Tenten's body.

He stammered nervously, "Is she…"

Neji cut him off, "No, she's not dead…yet…"

There was a long pause of silence and Gai Sensei yelled at the two angrily, "Well don't just stand there! We have to get those two to the hospital immediately!"

Neji and Lee nodded, and said in unison, "Hai!"

Neji picked Tenten up, his arms under her knees and neck. He took a glimpse at her face and winced. Her face was deathly pale. _She almost looks like she's…no. She's not dead. She can't die. I've already lost my parents, I can't lose Tenten too._

Neji started sprinting ahead of Gai Sensei and Lee who were trying to handle Naruto's body. Neji didn't have time to wait for Naruto, he had to get Tenten safely to the hospital.

Lee and Gai Sensei yelled at him from behind, "NEJI! WAIT UP!"

But after several failed attempts of yelling, Gai Sensei shushed Lee saying, "We shouldn't stop Neji. We should quicken our pace too. We should double our pace!"

Lee nodded, inspirational tears rolling from his eyes, "Let's triple it, Gai Sensei!"

Gai Sensei pondered this offer carefully and exclaimed, "I have come to a decision, we shall quicken our pace by 4 times!"

Naruto breathed weakly, "Will you two shut up?"

Lee gasped, "Do not tell Gai Sensei to be quiet! His words are full of wisdom and we should follow them. Do you have a problem with going 4 times faster to save your life?"

A slight smirk passed Naruto's face, "Yeah, it's impossible."

Lee mulled over these words in his head and told his instructor, "Gai Sensei, Naruto has a point! That's why I said we should only go triple our normal rate!"

Naruto smirked again, eyes still closed, "Fuzzy brows, you haven't changed a bit."

Neji looked down at Tenten's troubled face, judging by her face, she only had a day left to live if they didn't extract the poison from her body. Neji gritted his teeth and moved his legs even quicker in anger.

Tenten's face twitched, the poison was causing her to have nightmares.

"_Okaasan…Otousan…?" Tenten cried. She was in an endless black space that she could not escape. No one was with her, nothing was with her. It was just…black._

_She suddenly saw the image of her mother, she screamed, "Okaasan!"_

_Her mother waved goodbye, and was engulfed in flames. She disappeared._

_An image of her father came clear to her right after her mother faded away. Tenten screamed, "Otousan!"_

_But right as those words came out of her mouth, her dad started fading away in flames. A sad look was on his face, it seemed to say, 'Why didn't you save us? Why are you so weak?'_

_Tenten cried loudly, "Gomensai! Give me a second chance! I promise I'll train harder!"_

_She suddenly saw an image of Neji. She saw the scene that had occurred a few years ago. Neji ran into the burning building, and brought Tenten out, her parents were already laying on the floor, dead. The flaming building crumbled ontop of Tenten's parents._

_Neji turned and looked straight at her, "Why didn't you save them? If you were stronger they wouldn't be dead."_

_Tenten cried in her hands and said to no one in particular, "Give me a second chance…I'll train harder…"_

_Tenten suddenly saw a patch of the black space break off, revealing a clean white spot. Another patch broke off, and another, and another. Pretty soon, Tenten was kneeling in an empty white space. Somehow she felt better._

Tenten opened her eyes and saw Sakura removing a bubble containing poison from her body. _I'm in the hospital…Sakura's treating me…wh-what happened…_

Tenten suddenly remembered the whole scene. She had shielded Neji with her own body and had gotten terribly poisoned. She looked at her arms, legs, and body. No needles…just several holes.

She looked up at Sakura weakly and said, "Where's…Neji…?"

Sakura jumped a bit, "Oh, Tenten! I thought you were still resting! Neji-san is at his house, resting…"

Tenten seemed a little disappointed, _Neji didn't even wait for me._

Sakura continued, "He stayed here with you for a very long time. I finally told him he should go home and rest up, and he hesitantly walked home."

Tenten smiled a bit, _how could I doubt Neji like that?_

She asked weakly, "So…am I all better?"

Sakura seemed excited at the question and smiled broadly, "For the most part, yes…"

Tenten moaned, _please don't tell me I have to rest here for another week, please please please. I've had enough of this place._

Sakura continued, "but we think you just need to relax your muscles."

Sakura extended her hand and gave her a bright pink piece of paper that looked like either a coupon or a ticket of some sort.

Tenten blinked a few times in confusion, "Uh…what's this for?" she asked, taking the card out of Sakura's hand.

"It's a ticket signed by the medical staff that allows you one free visit to the bath house. Now you can relax in the bath house all you want today and that'll help your muscles heal faster!" Sakura said, a huge smile still plastered on her face.

Tenten laughed hesitantly, "Sakura…it's ok…I…"

Sakura shoved the card in her hand and pushed Tenten out the door saying, "Go go go! No time to waste!"

"But…"

"GO!" Sakura yelled as she closed the door and forced Tenten out of the hospital.

Sakura snickered to herself, "Part 2 of my plan complete!"

Tenten walked down the hallway, confused at Sakura's actions. She muttered to herself as she walked down the dark hallway, "My legs…so sore…"

As she walked out the front entrance, many people looked at her with a funny expression. Tenten bit back the urge to yell 'Haven't you ever seen a kunoichi in the hospital?'

Tenten walked to the bathhouse, looking at the bright sky on the way. The sky was a turquoise blue with white puffs of clouds floating freely. No doubt Shikamaru would be envious of the clouds on a day like this.

Tenten quickly recognized the sign to the bathhouse and cautiously walked in. She had only been here once when she was young, and she hadn't had such a good experience…

_FLASHBACK_

_A 13-year-old Tenten stripped off her clothes and walked into the boiling water. She let out a heavy sigh at the comfort the warm water brought. She closed her eyes and let the warm water do it's job._

_Suddenlt she felt a pinch on her side and a deep voice say, "Hey beautiful."_

_She opened her eyes only to find a perverted 30-year-old grinning toothily at her. She screamed and slapped him hard across the face, practically knocking him out. She ran out of the bathhouse with just a white towel on, carrying her clothes in one hand. That was the last time she ever wanted to visit the bathhouse again._

_END OF FLASHBACK_

But today she wasn't so lucky, she was pretty much being forced to take a bath there. _Why can't they just make a boy's room and a girl's room? Then us girls wouldn't have to worry about 30-year-old perverts._

Tenten handed her bright pink ticket to the lady at the main entrance. The lady smiled brightly at her and handed her a small white towel, "Enjoy your stay!"

Tenten took the towel and quickly walked into the "bath" room. As soon as she opened the door, steam came rushing into her face. She squinted her eyes and checked if anyone was in the room…no one was there…no perverted men…

Tenten let out a loud sigh of relief. She carefully stripped off her clothing and removed the rubberbands that kept her hair up. Tenten's silky chocolate hair came tumbling down to her waist. She dipped her slender foot in the water to test the temperature, _aw, nice and warm._

She carefully dropped the rest of her body in the hot water and closed her eyes again, forgetting all about her worries.

She felt a few sharp pains from time to time from the holes in her skin. She cursed whenever she felt pain.

She heard a man's voice suddenly say, "Tenten?"

Tenten almost yelped when she heard the man's voice. She looked around to see who had said it. To her surprise…it was Neji.

"Neji?" Tenten asked.

Neji nodded and walked closer to her, a towel wrapped around his waist.

"What are you doing here…" Tenten wondered out loud.

"Sakura gave me a pink ticket here…she said I needed to rest my muscles here or something…" Neji explained.

"Sakura!" Tenten hissed. That little devil!

Neji was about to take off his towel and get in the water with her. Tenten blushed and looked away. She heard Neji smirk, "I don't see the big deal. I sleep with you every night, and you watch me change every morning."

This remark made Tenten blush even redder, "Yeah…well…"

Her eyes suddenly widened as she felt Neji's arm wrap around her naked waist. She looked over at the Hyuuga, who was now sitting in the neck-high water with her.

"Tenten…" he breathed. He leaned in closer to her.

She didn't know how to react, was Neji going to make a move?

She stammered, "Uh…"

When Neji's face was only a few inches away from hers, she felt his hand squeeze her stomach suddenly.

Tenten let out a yelp and twitched in the water. Neji grinned, "Is Tenten ticklish?"

Tenten tried moving away from him but he grabbed her and started tickling her repeatedly. Tenten gasped for air, "Stop…Neji…Stop…tickling…stop…"

She thrashed in the water, unable to release herself from his grip. She kicked him hard in the stomach and he let go of her. Tenten tackled him into the water. They both were now completely submerged under water and Tenten had a firm hold on Neji. Neji felt her lips meet his and they stayed in the water this way for quite some time.

The lady from the front came into the "bath" room and asked, "Do you guys need anything…" but she stopped. She looked at the water with no one in it. She looked worried and ran out to get the manager, incase Neji and Tenten had drowned or something.

Right after the door closed behind her, Neji and Tenten resurfaced and gasped for air. Neji was still holding onto Tenten, their eyes met each others'. They both intensely stared at eachother, searching each others' eyes for something special.

Tenten suddenly realized the position she was in and blushed and pulled away from Neji. The Hyuuga, realizing what they had just done also blushed a little and turned away from her.

He cleared his throat and stammered, "Uh…that was…good…training for uh…holding our breath…under water…"

Tenten quickly agreed and said, "Uh yeah! Endurance…"

Neji smirked and said, "You need to work on it, you almost drowned that one time Gai Sensei was fighting Kisame."

Tenten threw a glare at him but then smirked, "Will you help me practice again?"

Neji grinned and pinned her down under water, repeating the same thing again. Tenten held tightly onto him and kissed him hungrily.

While they were underwater, the lady from the front and the manager opened the door and looked worriedly at the water, void of people. The manager shouted, "They DROWNED?? CALL 911!!!"

They both rushed out of the "bath" room and slammed the foor behind them.

A few seconds after the door was shut, Neji and Tenten resurfaced, a grin on both of their faces. Tenten smirked, "How about endurance training above water?"

Neji grinned and pulled her body close to his. Their warm lips met yet again and his tongue slowly entered her mouth. All of a sudden, the door to the "bath" room opened. The lady from the front, the manager, and the policeman were all dumbstruck when they saw Neji and Tenten making out in the water.

Neji let go of Tenten and they both looked at the people staring at them. Tenten turned bright red with embarassment.

The policeman rolled his eyes and yelled at the manager, "IS THIS SOME KIND OF JOKE?!"

They slammed the door closed one last time and left Neji and Tenten alone again. She grinned at him.

Neji looked at her face and had to say, "No more."

Tenten whined, "Neji! You ALWAYS ruin the fun!"

Neji gave her a questioning look, "Name one time."

Tenten grinned widely, "Like the time me and Lee wanted to go eat ramen, but you insisted on training for 2 more hours!"

Neji closed his eyes in irritation. _How did Tenten think of that so quickly?_

The Hyuuga was too arrogant to admit he was overly responsible at times.

Tenten continued, "Or the time me and Lee wanted to enter the Jonin exams, but you forced us to wait another year because you thought we weren't ready!"

Neji quickly said, "Well you guys weren't!"

Tenten continued, "Or the time…" but Tenten couldn't finish. Neji caught her in another kissed and he broke away after a few seconds saying, "There, happy?" Tenten grinned and nodded.

**A/N: Thanks to AngeChen, Matahari, LaZyFMAgirl, everyday-snowangel, dwerbiechan, Toko-Nozomi, Starsylvie, WhiteBird95, Liandrid313, and Jomai for reviewing chapter 1! I'll update as soon as I get 10 reviews for chapter 2! Thanks! **


	3. Shinobi to Kunoichi

**A/N: I don't own Naruto. Enjoy!**

**---**

Chapter 3: Shinobi to Kunoichi

Tenten moaned as a bright ray of sunlight shined from the window to her face. She pulled the covers over her head and said quietly, "Neji, could you close the blinds?"

As the kunoichi waited for a response from the Hyuuga that usually slept next to her, she opened her eyes under the covers when she realized he wasn't responding.

She got out from under the covers and blinked a few times. She turned to poke Neji, but all she found was a slight dent in the shape of Neji's body on the bed. Confused, Tenten turned to look at their alarm clock. Tenten almost rolled out of her bed in shock when she saw that it was 3 hours past the time she was supposed to wake up.

_FLASHBACK_

_As Neji and Tenten walked out of the bathhouse together, they heard a "TENTEN-CHAN!" from a youthful voice._

"_Gee, I wonder who that could be…" Tenten sarcastically thought out loud._

_She turned to look where the ringing voice came from and saw exactly what she was expecting to see. Rock Lee in his normal apparel, running towards her with tears streaming down his face. There were little ovals of pink on his cheeks. He caught an embarassed Tenten in a bear hug and told her happily, "I thought the blossom of our group might have…"_

_A deeper youthful voice hushed him, "Hush Lee, do not speak of such horrible tragedies that have not even occured. I told you Tenten would make it. She's a strong kunoichi you know."_

_This made Tenten blush even redder. Lee nodded apologetically and released Tenten. Something suddenly caught Lee's attention though._

_He blurted, "Neji-san, were you in the bathhouse with Tenten?"_

_Neji was taken aback with the question and stammered, "Well…uh…you see…Sakura-san ordered us to relax our muscles here…"_

_Lee's expression immediately brightened at the name of the medical-ninja he loved. "Sakura-chan!" He said dreamily, causing him to forget all about the curiosity of why Neji and Tenten were in the bathhouse together._

_Gai Sensei however didn't lose his curiosity. He raised an eyebrow, grinning at the couple, "So…what WERE you two lovebirds doing in there?"_

_Neji's cheeks flushed with embarassment and Tenten yelled, "Gai Sensei!"_

_Lee snapped out of his lovely dream and questioned immediately, "Lovebirds?" He looked at Neji, then Tenten, then finally Gai Sensei, with innocent and naïve eyes._

_Gai Sensei laughed heartily and quickly commented, "It doesn't matter Lee. I was just fooling around anyways."_

_Lee laughed hard and slapped his knee, "Gai Sensei, you are quite the joker!"_

_Neji and Tenten laughed nervously, slowly inching away from their teammates. Gai Sensei quickly snapped at them, "Don't move!" Neji and Tenten both straightened their backs quickly and nodded, "Hai!"_

_Gai laughed again, "You two look like I'm going to bite your heads off!"_

_Neji and Tenten laughed tensely._

"_Anyways," Gai Sensei continued, "Tomorrow, the old Team Gai is going to hold a great training session! Don't be late! It will start at 4:00 AM SHARP!"_

_Tenten's jaw dropped, "FOUR AM?!?! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL US?"_

_Gai Sensei shook his head in disappointment, "Tenten, I expected better from a great kunoichi like you…"_

_Tenten immediately regained her composure, "I meant uh…4:00 AM…that late? Are you trying to kill us…with suspense? We will die…if we wait that long…"_

_Gai Sensei beamed at her and said, "I agree! Let's reschedule to 3:00 AM!"_

_Neji glared at Tenten and hissed, "You and your big mouth."_

_Lee was crying with joy, "Thank you, oh thank you Gai Sensei!"_

_Gai added quickly, "My niece that's your age will be coming along." He winked at Neji, "She's a real knockout."_

_Tenten clenched her fists, she felt like punching her instructor in the nose. Can't he see that Neji is already with Tenten?_

_Neji scowled and said, "Ok, Tenten and I will meet you guys at the usual training spot at 3 AM tomorrow morning." Neji's voice was tense when he said '3 AM,' but he nonetheless bowed respectfully._

_Tenten, Lee, and Gai all did the same towards one another. They parted and went to get a good night's rest before training like crazy the next day._

_END OF FLASHBACK_

"IT'S ALREADY 6 AM!!!" Tenten yelled as she jumped out of bed. She had no time to get properly dressed or put her hair up decently. Tenten panicked as she sloppily put her hair up into two messy buns. One was at the top of her head, and one was more near the middle. Many of her hairs were sticking out from her buns, making Tenten seem like she had been training for days without redoing her hair or something of the sort.

Tenten cursed loudly as she slipped on a baggy pair of shorts and a big white t-shirt. She ran out the door without eating breakfast and wondered why her clothes felt so loose today. She sprinted into the forest, and only when she was almost there did she realize why her clothes felt so odd.

She swore in her head like crazy. "THESE ARE NEJI'S CLOTHES!!!" She screamed, making some startled birds fly out from the trees they were perched on.

---

"Good, you're doing great, Ai!" Gai Sensei said happily. Neji was leaning against a tree watching Gai Sensei's niece throw kunais at a target on a tree trunk.

Ai was 21 years old, just like him, Lee, and Tenten were. She had long silky black hair that she liked to wear down, and crystal blue eyes, an uncommon combination. She had a full feminine figure. She had toned arms, slender legs, and a flat stomach. Any guy, with the exception of Neji and possibly Sasuke, would want her to go out with him.

Neji however, wasn't interested in other females. He, infact, hated fan girls. He thought they were the most annoying things in the world. That's one thing he agreed with the Uchiha on.

Suddenly, a panting discombobulated looking kunoichi ran into the training ground, panting like mad. Between breaths, she bowed to Gai Sensei and said, "Gomensai for my lateness." A smirking Gai Sensei nodded and forgave her. Tenten shot a look at Neji, "Why didn't you wake me up?!"

Neji replied blankly, "I thought maybe your muscles might still need to rest up after all that poison being extracted…"

Tenten growled at him, "THAT'S NO REASON NOT TO WAKE ME UP!!"

Neji suddenly broke in, "Are you wearing my clothes?"

"Yeah! Only because you didn't wake me up so I was in a hurry to get here!" Tenten would lose her voice pretty soon if she kept yelling like this.

Gai Sensei interrupted their quarreling and said, "Tenten, I'd like you to meet my neice, Ai."

Tenten's angry expression changed to a warm smile, "Hello! Nice to meet you!"

Ai smiled back and said, "You too!"

"Your name means love…?" Tenten asked curiously.

"Oh yes, it does!" Ai replied cheerfully.

Ai started walking over to her water bottle, which was near Neji's body. As she got near it, she quickly twisted her ankle and fell. Neji caught her in his arms a little reluctantly.

She held onto him for a few seconds before saying in a high voice, "Neji-kun! You saved me!"

Tenten resisted the urge to yell at her. _It's ok Tenten, she twisted her ankle…she didn't do it on purpose…she hurt herself…calm down…_

Neji's ivory eyes met her crystal eyes and she gave him a seductive glance. She smiled at him but he gently set her down, _agh, I hate these type of girls._

Neji noticed her ankle looked perfectly normal and unscathed. He didn't want to further his interaction with this girl, so he quickly walked over to Tenten. Tenten knew she was having a jealous sensation, and she couldn't stop herself from hugging Neji and burying her head in his chest. Neji held onto her, a blank expression on his face. Tenten giggled and kissed him on the lips. Neji smirked and kissed her back.

"Nothing like youthful springtime love, ne Gai Sensei?" Lee said in a loud energetic voice.

Ai got up and whispered something in Gai Sensei's ear. Tenten noticed Ai and almost yelled 'YOU LIAR! YOU'RE NOT HURT AT ALL!' but she restrained herself. Neji scowled at her.

Gai Sensei announced, "Everyone! Ai has brought up a great idea! Because we always train on land, we should also train in other environments to prepare ourselves very well! That is why…we will train in the water!"

Tenten sighed, "I didn't…bring a swimsuit…"

Ai shot at her, "What kind of kunoichi are you? So unprepared!"

Tenten gritted her teeth and muttered to herself, "This girl better watch her mouth or I'm gonna…"

Neji laid his hand on her shoulder and stopped her from continuing.

Ai's voice went up an octave and she yelled, "Come on everyone! Let's go! There's a stream a few yards from here!" Ai stripped off the tight t-shirt and short shorts she was wearing right then and there revealing a lavender bikini that was quite skimpy.

_How lame…what kind of kunoichi wears a bikini in replacement of her bra…_Tenten thought.

She walked over to Neji and cooed, "Neji-kun, will you walk over to the stream with me?"

Neji glanced at Tenten, who was practically steaming with anger. _Neji-kun, will you walk over to the stream with me? Go tell someone who cares!!!_

Tenten stayed behind with Lee, as Ai and a helpless Neji walked over to the stream together.

After a few minutes, Tenten looked at Lee and Gai Sensei saying, "I'm gonna go check on Neji and Ai and…_see if they're ok_…" Tenten's teeth were gritted.

Gai Sensei understood and said, "Hai. Lee, let's train!"

Lee looked confused at Gai's words, "Gai Sensei! I thought we were going to train in the water! I even brought my green spandex swimsuit that you gave me 6 years ago!"

Gai explained quickly, "We'll do that later. Right now, we're going to do 500 pushups. _Do you think you can handle it?!"_

Lee's eyes filled with tears of joy, "Hai hai! ARIGATO GAI SENSEI! I will start now!"

Tenten watched as Lee jumped on the ground pushing himself up and down quickly, counting out loud, "1-2-3-4-5-6-7…"

Tenten smiled and ran off, "Ja ne!"

Tenten ran swiftly through the thick forest, only cracking a few twigs on the way. Tenten quickly heard Ai's annoying high pitched voice and ducked behind a bush. Tenten's eyes widened when she saw Neji shirtless sitting next to Ai with a bikini.

She cooed to Neji, "Neji-kun…do you have a special girl on your heart right now?"

Neji simply nodded.

"Is it that ugly kunoichi…what's her name…Tomtom?"

"Tenten," Neji grunted.

_Ugly? I'll show you ugly! _Tenten thought.

"Right whatever…" she leaned closer to his face and whispered, "Wouldn't you rather have someone…like me…"

She leaned in and her lips barely grazed his lips when he pushed her away.

"What are you doing?" Neji almost yelled.

"Don't you…want me…"

Tenten couldn't help but smirk in victory at the sight. Neji abruptly stood up and looked in Tenten's direction, "You can come out now Tenten…"

_His Byakugan is activated…_Tenten noticed, _no wonder he could see me._

Tenten slowly stood up, her knees sore from crouching, and walked over to the spot where Ai and Neji were standing awkwardly. Tenten walked over to Neji and he grabbed her hand muttering quietly, "We have to follow Gai Sensei's orders and train in the water…"

Tenten's face lit up with a sly grin. Neji quickly noticed her face and said, "No endurance training today…"

Tenten's face fell, "See! You _always _ruin the fun!"

Neji pretended to ignore this comment, but deep inside, he was ashamed at how true her complaints were. He replied quietly, "We can do that tonight in bed…" but he quickly stopped as he realized what he had just said. The Hyuuga usually never showed very much emotion and usually never suggested any romantic practices, even though he had a burning desire for Tenten.

Tenten giggled at what Neji just said, "What? I didn't hear you. Can you say it again, but LOUDER!"

Neji blushed slightly and ignored the giggling kunoichi again. He jumped in the water, but didn't make a big splash. Tenten just stared at the Hyuuga in neck high water. Neji gave her a questioning look, _what's she waiting for?_

"I didn't bring a swimsuit…" Tenten looked evilly at Ai and grinned, "Maybe I should rip Ai's off."

Neji shook his head in embarassment at the immature girl he slept with every night.

Ai, hearing the comment, backed away slowly, still glaring at Tenten. Tenten giggled again and said, "I'm just kidding. I wouldn't want you naked in front of Neji anyways." She stuck her tongue out at Ai.

Neji looked at Tenten and related her to a little girl, _Tenten can be so immature…or innocent, which ever one you want to call it. _Neji would probably lean more on the immature side, but he still loved Tenten anyways.

Tenten turned her attention back to Neji, "Neji! What do I do?!"

Neji looked at her blanky, "Just get in. It's not a big deal to swim with normal clothes."

Tenten firmly refused, "No!"

"Why not?"

"These are your clothes!"

"So?"

"They're way too loose!"

"Why would that matter when you're underwater?"

"Well…and this is a white t-shirt…and I'm a girl…"

"You're wearing a bra, aren't you?"

Tenten blushed at this question. She yelled loudly, "Of course I am! I'm not some weirdo who wears a bikini under her shirt instead of a bra everywhere!"

Ai knew that Tenten was clearly referring to her and clenched her fists in anger, "What did you say?!"

Tenten turned her attention to Gai's niece with bitterness, "Well, it's true!"

"Tenten, just get in the water," Neji broke in to the girls' quarrel impatiently.

Tenten blushed and paused for a while before finally sighing, "Fine."

Tenten dipped her foot in the water, feeling the temperature. She felt a wave of coldness go up her feet and in her body. She yelped, "It's freezing! How am I supposed to train in this cold wat…"

But before she could finish her complaints, she felt Neji's arm grabbing hers and pulling her in towards him. Tenten fell in with a scream. Her head was completely submerged in water before she resurfaced with a loud gasp for air. She looked at Neji, her whole body shivering, "Neji!"

Neji smirked, "You haven't been training enou…"

Tenten slapped his face and yelled, "Don't you go giving me that crap again!"

Tenten suddenly put her hand over her mouth when she realized what she had just said and done. She blushed with embarassment, _oh man, Neji's gonna kill me now…_

Neji looked shocked, _did a kunoichi just…SLAP me?_

Tenten slowly backed up in the water. Her heart was racing with fear, _don't kill me, don't kill me, pleeease don't kill me…_

Neji started advancing on her. She kept backing up.

All of a sudden, Tenten tripped on a rock and fell backwards. This was Neji's chance. He basically pounced on her like a lion did on its prey, and instead of hurting her, kissed her hard and held her tight.

Tenten smiled a bit before returning the favor. Ai watched all this, a jealous stare on her face.

While Tenten and Neji were having their little kissing session, Gai Sensei and Lee walked in and stared in awe at the scene. There was Ai in her skimpy bikini, watching a shirtless Hyuuga ontop of a chocolate-haired kunoichi wearing men's clothes.

It was actually pretty funny, and Lee gasped in horror, "Neji-san! I thought you were only supposed to show emotions when you are married!"

Gai Sensei smirked at Lee's innocence.

Neji opened his eyes and snapped back into reality before releasing Tenten and stammering, "Um…we were…"

Tenten made a quick excuse, "It's a new form of endurace training. Uh…the shinobi is supposed to get ontop of the kunoichi and up keep her from breathing for as long as possible…to train…your stamina and endurance…"

Gai smirked at this excuse, "Really?"

"Really! I read it in uh…one of Tsunade-sama's textbooks that Sakura showed me…it really works!" Tenten lied quickly. Tenten took a deep breath, trying to show Gai Sensei that her lungs had somehow expanded, and she could take in more oxygen.

Gai Sensei suddenly turned into an innocent little boy like Lee and asked in fascination, "Really?! The Fifth Hokage's textbooks! That must work extremely well then!" Gai Sensei's eyes were sparkling in amazement.

Tenten laughed nervously, "Uh…yeah…hehe…"

Gai quickly ordered Lee, "Lee!"

Lee straightened his back and brought his hand to his forehead in a salute position, "Hai!"

Gai Sensei said loudly, "You and Ai are going to do this new training together! Get your swimsuit on, quickly!"

"Hai!" Lee yelled, jumping behind a bush.

Before Tenten had time to make fun of Ai about it, Lee jumped out of the bushes a few seconds later. Tenten's eyes widened, _how did he change so quickly?_

Lee looked exactly the same, except without a jacket and orange legwarmers. He yelled cheerfully, "I am ready to show off my amazing green spandex swimsuit, Sensei!"

Gai laughed heartily, "That's my star student right there!"

Lee quickly ran towards Ai, who screamed. She ran off to the side, making Lee crash into the water. Ai ran out of the forest in her skimpy little bikini screaming, "I DON'T WANT TO BE A SHINOBI ANYMORE!"

As Tenten heard Ai's echoing voice fade, Tenten smirked, _good riddens._

Lee had a hurt expression on his face, "Gai Sensei. My training parter has abandoned me! I will not get to train my endurance, but I was very much looking forward to improving myself!"

Gai contemplated this situation and quickly said, "Well then I, as an instructor, must practice the drill with you!"

Lee yelped with joy and cried, "Thank you, oh thank you Gai Sensei!"

Tenten and Neji, both looking alarmed starting thinking of ways to stop their clueless instructor. Neji stammered, "Uh…don't…it's…not uh good for you…"

Tenten continued nervously, "Yeah! It can only be shinobi to kunoichi…if it's shinobi to shinobi…uh…one of the shinobi's…uh…rib cages will be crushed…?"

Lee blinked in confusion, but Gai Sensei regained his composure, "Ah yes! That is so obvious! Why didn't I think of that?"

Lee slapped his forehead, "Oh yes! Of course! The concentrated chakra of the shinobi would be too heavily matched for the shinobi on the bottom's oppressed chakra system, therefore, crushing the rib cage!"

Tenten rubbed the back of her head, stammering nervously, "Hehe…yeah…let's go with that…"

Lee let out a heavy sigh, "Neji-san, you are so lucky to have a great training parter like Tenten. I cannot practice certain drills such as this one with just Gai Sensei for he is a male."

Neji smirked and looked at Tenten, giving her one last kiss, "Lucky? Yes I am."

**A/N: Thanks to Starsylvie, YAY, Quiet Moon, LaZyFMAgirl, everyday-snowangel, Alucius, Liandrid 313, Sailor Kunoichi, and alexa for reviewing chapter 2! I hope you guys liked chapter 3! I'll post chapter 4 as soon as I have 10 reviews for chapter 3! Thanks **


	4. What's ESAKE?

**A/N: I don't own Naruto. Enjoy!**

**---**

Chapter 4: What's ESAKE?

"NEJI WAKE UP FOR TRAINING!!!" Tenten's shrill voice entered one ear of Neji and out the other.

Neji moaned and rolled over, holding the pillow securely over his head, in an attempt to block out Tenten's voice.

"WAKE UP YOU LAZY HYUUGA!!!!" Tenten yelled again. Although Neji hated any sort of insult to his clan, his body was all too comfortable in his warm bed to get out and yell at Tenten.

Under the pillow, Neji moaned, "I heard you the first time Tenten." Tenten grinned in satisfaction as she watched her lover suffer. To her, this was sweet payback for the way he had made her 3 hours late for training yesterday.

Tenten urged the Hyuuga prodigy to wake up repeatedly, but he begged her several times to wait one more minute, the pillow still pulled tightly over his head. Tenten let out a loud sigh and said, "Fine…"

Neji relaxed a little, _yes, I won again._

Neji's ears perked up when he heard Tenten suddenly snicker, _uh oh, that can't be good…_

And he was right. Almost instantly after he made a mental warning to himself, he felt a chilly sensation find it's way down his back. Neji twitched in shock and shot Tenten a glare. Tenten stuck her tongue at him with an innocent, little girl kind of smile.

Tenten had shoved several large chunks of ice down Neji's back. Tenten, realizing Neji had the ability to end her life, ran as fast as she could out the door, slamming the door shut. Neji swore as he sat up straight and shook the ice blocks out of his shirt. He took them and threw them on the ground, he didn't want them to melt all over his warm bed.

The shocking sensation from the ice had definitely woken Neji up. As hard as he tried, his eyes couldn't relax and he stayed awake. Finally making up his mind, he slowly walked out of bed and peeled off his cold shirt, throwing it on the floor, leaving it as a crumpled piece of cloth.

Tenten slowly opened the door a little and looked through the little space she made. She caught a glimpse of Neji's body. She blushed but didn't close the door, why close the door when you can watch your lover practically naked?

"A little privacy, Tenten?" she heard the Hyuuga's deep voice warn. He hadn't even had to turn his head to check on her.

_Sheez he's good. If only he didn't have Byakugan…_Tenten thought. She replied quickly, "Then change in the bathroom!"

Neji smirked, but didn't move. He just kept changing. Tenten bit a laugh away as she thought, _maybe I should go up and brush his hair again…_

But she restrained herself, she didn't want to piss him off any further. Once Neji finished dressing in the last of his traditional Hyuuga robes, he walked straight towards where Tenten was peaking at him. He opened the door without minding Tenten and looked straight at her. He gazed at her for a moment with those beautiful eyes, Tenten almost grabbed him and kissed him, but again, she remained calm and composed.

He blankly said to the kunoichi, "Tenten, you should get changed now."

Tenten quickly realized that she hadn't gotten dressed. She was too busy thinking of how to get Neji to wake up super early, that she had forgotten herself to change. She blushed and muttered, "Oh right…"

Tenten walked past the Hyuuga into the room and pulled out a plain small white t-shirt, and a pair of black short shorts. Neji watched her as she selected what she was going to wear. He stared at her clothes for a while before commenting, "Aren't your clothes the same as mine, only smaller…?"

Tenten blushed when she realized what he was saying was true. She quickly made an excuse, "No…my t-shirt hugs my body making it easier to move, but your t-shirts are baggy and aren't aerodynamic."

Neji thought about it for a few seconds before replying, "Isn't that the same thing?"

Tenten blushed even redder and pointed at the doorway, "Get out! I'm changing! Can't a kunoichi have her privacy?"

Neji raised an eyebrow and asked, "So a shinobi can't have his privacy?"

Tenten grinned, "I told you to go to the bathroom."

Neji smirked, "So now I'm telling _you_ to go to the bathroom."

Tenten's face was now the color of a ripe tomato. She shot back in embarassment, "Well it wouldn't make a difference because you just watch me change with your Byakugan!"

This time it was Neji's turn to blush. He quickly searched for words, "I do not…"

"You watch me every day!"

Neji was speechless, for he knew it was true…but how did Tenten know he spied on her every day?

"How did you…"

"Because when I come out of the bathroom and see you staring at me, your face is all red."

Neji blushed again, _shoot. How could I expose myself like that?_

Tenten nodded, "Yeah, end of discussion, now get out!"

Neji nodded and reluctantly headed out the door, closing it slowly. Tenten waited until the door was closed before she started stripping off her clothing and putting her fresh clothes on. It only took her about 5 minutes, and after that she put her hair up in two buns in only about 30 seconds, which by the way is an incredible speed. She gets daily practice tying her hair up so…that explains a lot.

Tenten walked to the door and slowly opened it. When she opened the door, she saw Neji leaning against the wall, he was staring at her, his cheeks carried a hint of red.

She couldn't help but giggle, "Neji! I told you to give me some privacy!"

Neji grinned at her, "I couldn't help it, you're too beautiful."

Tenten smiled at this comment, and said, "Well now you don't have to wait…"

Neji walked up to her, still grinning, and grabbed her and held onto her. He kissed her and she held onto him too. After about only 45 seconds, they heard a "Neji-san! Tenten-chan!"

Neji swore as he released Tenten, _why does Lee always have to pop up when we're kissing and ruin the moment?_

Tenten blushed in embarassment when she was caught by the spandex boy. But instead of having a scolding face, he was crying…she couldn't tell if they were tears of sorrow or tears of joy…

"Lee…don't cry…" Tenten said slowly.

"My deepest apologies, I am just so overjoyed," Lee started.

_Tears of joy, _Tenten corrected herself.

"that you and Neji-san work so hard on your endurance skills! I wish I had a partner. Tenten-chan, could you practice with me?"

Tenten looked at the boy who now had puppy dog eyes. _He still believes us about the endurance training? Wow…_

"Lee…" she started.

It was Neji's turn this time to make up an excuse, "You can't. Once a shinobi has already trained this technique with a kunoichi, he or she cannot practice this with anyone else…"

Lee slapped his forehead, "Ohhh. Of course! It is so obvious! Because of the chakra flow through the shinobi and kunoichis' mouths, the body has already recognized that unique chakra type and cannot handle another type of chakra, or else that would cause the immune system to overload and that would result in fatal internal problems."

Tenten stared at Lee and then glanced at Neji. Neji shrugged and said, "Uhh…yeah…"

Tenten sighed, "Wow Lee…you could write your own book with that unique knowledge of yours…"

Lee's eyes glistened and he asked in a high-pitched voice that only happened when he was really happy, "Really?"

Tenten shrugged, "Sure."

Lee leaped in the air and squealed, "Yay! Tenten-chan has told me I am a very wise shinobi!"

Tenten almost slapped herself for encouraging Lee's weird explanations, but the Hyuuga that was standing right next to her broke in, "Lee, why are you here?"

Lee blinked a few times before remembering the reason he had barged in on their 'endurance training.' Lee smiled brightly, "Oh yes! The ESAKE!"

Neji and Tenten looked at eachother. Tenten giggled a little, "The E-what?"

"ESAKE! Excellent Shinobi and Kunoichi Exam!" Lee exclaimed.

"I've never heard of that in my life, Lee…are you sure…"

But before Tenten had time to finish her thoughts, Lee held up a baby blue flyer in her face. She snatched it out of his hands and read it.

It read:

_The ESAKE is coming up! Are you ready? First place shinobi and kunoichi get a badge to wear, or to hang up in your household forever! Train hard and fight with ninjas from all over Konoha. Only the best of the best will survive!_

Neji frowned as he looked over Tenten's shoulder to read the flyer. He said suspiciously, "How come we've never heard of this before?"

Lee smiled brightly, "It is ok Neji-san! Gai Sensei recommended it for us! See…" he pointed at a red stamp at the bottom of the flyer, "even Tsunade-sama has stamped this flyer to validate it!"

Neji didn't question it any further, it couldn't hurt to try. But he was worried, it sounded somewhat tough. Could Tenten handle it?

Neji turned his head to look at Tenten, who had a confident smirk on her face. "Yeah, we can definitely handle it!" Tenten exclaimed brightly.

Neji questioned the exam again, "How many days do we have to prepare for this exam?"

Lee laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head, "Well…because Gai Sensei just gave it to me today…it is actually tomorrow…"

Tenten and Neji both shouted in disbelief, "TOMORROW?!"

Lee stiffled a laugh again, "Hehe…yeah…"

Neji straightened up and said seriously, "Then let's hurry up and train."

Lee and Tenten both nodded in a determined way and ran to the forest to their usual training grounds. They would have to train incredibly hard today to be ready for the events that tomorrow would bring.

---

Once the three proud ninjas reached the training grounds, Tenten stretched her arms and took a deep breath, "It feels good to get back out in our training ground without certain _distractions_." It was clear to Neji and Lee that when she said distractions, she was referring to Ai.

Lee nodded, "Gai Sensei said that he would make sure Ai never came bac…"

But before Lee could finish, they heard a high pitched voice say, "Oh, hi everyone!"

The three of them turned their heads to find the girl that they hated. Ai was standing there, clad in a tube top, and a mini skirt. Tenten felt like shooting herself. Neji slowly backed away. The three ninjas noticed Gai Sensei was directly behind Ai.

"Gai Sensei, why is Ai here?!" Tenten demanded toward her teacher.

"Well, Ai wanted to try for the ESAKE, so she will have to train with us," Gai explained, his usual smile not on his face, "and more specifically, she will have to train with you Tenten."

Tenten almost jumped in surprise. _I don't want that Hyuuga-obsessed freak to train with me!_ Tenten remembered how mushy she always acted toward Neji.

"But…but…but…" Tenten stammered, trying frantically to find an excuse for herself to not have to train with Ai.

Gai Sensei raised an eyebrow, "But what?"

"But…she can't train in…_that!" _Tenten pointed at Ai's outfit, which made Ai clench her fists in anger.

Gai, seeing the tension between the two young kunoichis, quickly answered Tenten, "As strange as it might seem to you, this is her favorite training outfit. She says it's very aerodynamic."

"If you really want to be aerodynamic, just strip all your clothes off and you'll have nothing stopping you," Tenten muttered.

"What did you say?!" Ai growled.

"I SAID…" Tenten started to yell, but Neji put his hand on her shoulder.

He looked at her, "Just forget it Tenten, we can't win this argument. Just train with her…"

Tenten stared at his eyes for a moment to check if he was serious, he was. Tenten huffed and finally said, "Nothing." Ai suddenly remembered Neji. Although she knew that him and Tenten already had feelings for eachother, she just had to have him. _What does that ugly kunoichi have that I don't have? _Ai thought angrily. She continued to think frantically until she thought, _maybe he likes tough girls._

She grinned at her thoughts, _yes it has to be. Well I'll just beat little miss Tomtom here at a fight and Neji will see how tough I am and he'll fall in love with me and forget all about that freak!_ Ai laughed a bit at her evil plan, which made Neji eye her. She caught him glimpsing at her and smiled at him, forcing him to immediately turn away.

Ai walked over to Tenten and asked Gai Sensei, "Uncle Gai, can me and Tenten fight first?"

Gai Sensei rubbed the back of his head before saying, "Um…sure…"

Ai grinned and muttered under her breath, "Perfect."

Ai and Tenten stood directly opposite from each other, still facing eachother though, and glared at the other female. Gai was in the middle. He looked from one kunoichi to another, his arm in the air. He finally thrust his arm down saying, "Begin!" and getting out of their ways.

Lee and Neji, who were sitting down watching, were joined by Gai Sensei. Gai muttered, "Tenten better watch out…"

Lee and Neji both turned to look at their Sensei with utmost curiosity. "Are you joking Gai Sensei? Tenten-chan is so much stronger than Ai-chan…" Lee inquired.

Gai shook his head, "Ai is also a weapn user…"

Neji smirked, "No one can beat Tenten at weapons."

Gai still looked worried by dropped the topic.

The girls stayed in their stances for a long time, just glaring at each other, not only preparing for physical combat, but also mental. Ai jumped in the air and reached for a kunai at her waist.

Tenten sighed, _this is way too easy._ Tenten jumped up to meet Ai's position and quickly put her in a headlock. The two kunoichis landed firmly on the ground, Tenten holding a kunai up to Ai's throat. Gai quickly ended the match, shouting loudly, "This match was won by Tenten!"

Ai threw a glare at Tenten, "No fair! She's obviously stronger than me!"

Neji looked at Gai, "Yeah, what did you mean by 'Tenten better watch out?'"

Gai laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head, "Hehe…I thought Ai would be a lot stronger. Her parents described her as a world champion weapon user…"

Tenten sweatdropped, _this BRAT? A world champion weapon user? Fat chance._

Ai snarled, throwing her nose up in the air, "I AM a world champion. My parents always say I perform like one!"

Tenten smirked, "Well, for a world champion, your basics sure are shabby, your defense could use a little work for starters."

Ai remained silent, staring intensely at Tenten, "You'll see. One day, Tenten, I WILL surpass your skill level."

This was no threat to Tenten. Many people had challenged her before. None of them ever followed through with their vows. Part of this was due to the fact that Tenten trained so hard that her skill level only kept rising, never dropping. So if a kunoichi started at a lower level than Tenten, they would usually stay a lower level than her. That is, unless they have a major increase in skill level. But not many progress as quickly as that, unless you happen to be Uzumaki Naruto.

Neji smirked and muttered, "You will _never _beat Tenten."

Tenten blushed slightly at Neji's defence. Gai quickly sat the two kunoichis down and got his two shinobi students to start fighting. Neji and Lee were actually able to get some serious training done. Neji struck many of Lee's chakra points, and Lee attempted to strike Neji with swift kicks, but Neji was too quick and dodged them. In the end though, as expected, Neji won Lee by gentle fisting him straight in the chest. Lee coughed out blood and laid limply on the floor.

Gai, looking extremely worried ran over to Lee and embraced him, "Lee, my precious student, are you alright?"

Lee blinked a few times before answering, "Both Neji-san and Tenten-chan are extremely strong. Please let them fight each other. It would be worthwhile training."

Neji and Tenten looked at each other, both blushing. It would be extremely hard for them to fight each other due to the fact that they both wanted to win, but didn't want to hurt each other.

Neji could easily close off all of Tenten's chakra points, but he could accidentally kill her, and that would be a fatal guilt that would follow Neji for the rest of his life. Tenten however, could easily strike Neji with several weapons in his blind spot, but with the correct weapons, she could also kill him. As you can see, they were not in a good position to be sparring partners, which is the exact reason they didn't train with each other too often.

Gai nodded and said loudly, "That's a great idea, Lee!"

Soon after Gai yelled those fatal words Neji and Tenten dreaded, "Begin!"

The couple just stood there. Everyone was staring at them intently, waiting for one of them to make a move. Ai finally whined, "This is so boring! Just beat her up Neji-kun!"

Tenten's vein twitched, _don't you Neji-kun my Neji!_

Neji didn't want to look like some kind of sissy and quickly started to throw some basic punches at Tenten. This almost made her laugh out loud, "Punches, what am I, four? I'm not THAT weak Neji!"

Neji grinned and started quickening his pace. Alarmed, Tenten drew several kunais, holding them between her fingers and threw all 8 of them. Neji dodged them quickly and went down to sweep Tenten's feet. Tenten quickly tripped, and just from reflexes Neji rushed to catch Tenten, making sure her fragile body didn't get hurt. Neji caught her, unscathed, and quickly blushed when he realized what he had done.

Tenten blushed also, but she didn't want him to let go. She loved it when she was in his arms. Gai clapped his hands, "This is so very sweet!"

Ai snarled, "Pft. This is a fight, not a Korean drama!"

Neji, still blushing, let go of Tenten and she stood up. They were both frozen in place, not knowing how to act. Gai, understanding their complex moods, ended the match and laughed heartily, "Springtime love these days! Ah, how I love the beauty of youth!"

Tenten blushed, "Me and Neji are not _springtime lovers, _Gai Sensei…"

Ai's face started to grow red, "Not lovers…don't give me that bull…"

Tenten's face and voice showed her growing irritation, "Well excuse me, little miss _I love you Neji-kun even though you're obviously in love with another girl_!"

Ai shot back at her, "Well I'm not the one always acting like an idiot around Neji!"

Tenten shouted furiously, "YEAH YOU ARE! You strip your shirt off just for him!"

Neji couldn't believe his fiance and a skimpy kunoichi were fighting over him during training in front of Gai and Lee. It almost made him want to go jump in the river. _Almost._ Hyuugas don't hide when they're embarassed. They're not even supposed to get embarassed! Neji was just too arrogant to go hide from his embarassment. And that was the end of his naïve thoughts.

Gai separated them and said, "I think you girls have had enough training today. Both of you, go home. I will train with Neji and Lee alone."

"But…but…" Tenten and Ai both stammered.

"Now!" Gai yelled.

Tenten and Ai didn't move.

"Or I'll make you run 1000 laps around Konoha!" Gai threatened.

Tenten, knowing he was serious when he challenged you on something like this, quickly nodded and sprinted home. Ai, realizing he was serious quickly ran to her house, leaving Neji, Lee, and Gai to train in peace.

---

Tenten laid in her bed, cold. She shivered although she had 2 blankets on top of her. She was so used to Neji's comforting body heat. It had already been 2 hours since she had left the training ground. She suddenly heard the door crack open and she heard Neji strip off his shirt. She felt sudden warmth in her bed and his cold lips meet hers. She felt his arms wrap around her waist. She giggled in the dark, she felt so happy and lethargic when Neji and her were alone. Tenten's mind was buzzing with excitement.

_Tomorrow will be my day to impress Neji…at the ESAKE._

**A/N: Thanks to Lyneia, alexa, Liandrid313, tru-viet, lalal, LaZyFMAgirl, cartoonchic6, ashnita, Starsylvie, and Mimiao for reviewing chapter 3! I'll post chapter 5 as soon as I get 10 review for chapter 4! Please comment/review! Thanks, hope you liked this chapter! **


	5. Genjutsu

**A/N: I don't own Naruto. Enjoy!**

**---**

Chapter 5: Genjutsu

"Thank you…thank you…it was nothing…I just train a lot…that's all…" Tenten was mumbling in her deep slumber at 4 AM in the morning. The endless sky filled with little points of light for stars was still fairly dark. The only hint of light you could faintly see was revelaed near the horizon line. The whole effect of the angle of the Sun's light caused the sky to look dark blue, but tinted with a light shade of magenta.

Neji blinked a few times in his sleep, _who is that?_ He opened his eyes cautiously, only to find his fiance vocally fantasizing her dream. Neji rolled his eyes, _Tenten always does this._

_THWACK! _Neji's pillow struck Tenten's sleepy head, dead smack accurate. Tenten jumped up, her high pitched scream shattered the silence of the calm night. She scanned the room for the possible cause of her sudden shock, and she eyed Neji.

Yes, it was the Hyuuga that did this to her.

"HYUUGA NEJI, WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?!" Tenten yelled impatiently.

Neji smirked, _it's dangerous for a kunoichi to be a heavy sleeper. _"You were talking in your sleep again. Something about…"

"Neji! I was having such a good dream! I dreamt that I won the ESAKE for kunoichis, and everyone was cheering me on and you were right next to me and…" the young girl slapped her hands over her mouth tightly, firmly refusing to reveal what she had fantasized.

This peeked Neji's interest, "I was standing next to you and…?"

"Nothing, Neji! I'm going back to bed!" the girl said loudly, plopping her body heavily back onto the springy comfort of their bed. Neji quickly pounced on her, wrapping his arms around her thin waist. He trailed his kisses down her neck before firmly tickling her around her abdomen.

Tenten squealed in laughter, gasping between giggles, "No…Ne…ji…stop…!"

The Hyuuga, a smirk still on his lips, kissed her once more on the nape of her neck, making Tenten blush, "Then tell me what happened in your dream."

Tenten's face heated up slightly with embarassment, though Neji could not see that she was blushing in the dark, "Nothing Neji…go to bed…"

Neji's arms remained wrapped around her fragile body as he gave in and dozed off a bit. Lightly sleeping, the Hyuuga cleared his mind of all previous thoughts that were not signifigant to him. He would have to focus on strategy for the ESAKE soon…but the only problem was…they had never fought in this exam, so none of them knew what to expect.

In fact, Neji was suspicious at what this whole exam was about. Why had he never heard about it? He was, after all, a jounin, so shouldn't he be aware of the events that occur.

But an image of a bright red stamp seethed in his mind. If the flyer had Tsunade-sama's stamp on it, it most certainly would not bring them danger. But then again, that woman _does _drink a whole lot of sake…

Signing papers under the influence…could that be it?

Neji didn't think about it too long, _I just have to stay on my toes and be ready for anything._ The Hyuuga opened his eyes slightly and looked at the girl he was holding with concerned eyes, _but will Tenten be ok?_

Tenten opened her eyes and glanced at the alarm clock sitting next to her on its table. She saw the large numbers: 4:59 AM.

Tenten sat up straight immediately, _don't the exams start at 6:00? And Neji and I will have to get warmed up…_

She grabbed her pillow and brought it down on Neji's head. This attempt to get revenge on the Hyuuga failed when Neji quickly sensed her scheme and blocked the pillow with his forearm. He smirked, "Gotta be faster than that if you want to beat a Hyuuga, Tenten."

Tenten sighed and shook her head in shame, "Arrogance…pure arrogance…"

Neji's vain twitched, but let it go. He knew it himself very well that he was indeed extremely arrogant, for he was the most talented of his generation in the Hyuuga clan. And in addition to that, the Hyuuga clan was one of the strongest clans, some say even the Uchihas are only a branch of the Hyuuga clan. The Byakugan is said to be stronger than the Sharingan.

Therefore, Neji being the strongest in his clan, and his clan being strongest among other clans, would make Neji one of the strongest ninjas alive right now. Tenten however…was not from a popular clan and didn't have very many bloodline limits. Usually Hyuugas were supposed to have arranged marriages with other females from high ranking families, but since both of Neji's parents were deceased, he consoled himself and concluded that he would take Tenten as his wife.

Hinata's father, Hyuuga Hiashi, somewhat disapproved of the way Neji thought he could do anything he wanted with both his parents dead to some extent. He thought Neji should at least show honor to his parents by following traditions.

Neji knew this, and it somewhat held him back from actually getting married to Tenten. He didn't want to bring dishonor to the family name. But Tenten was a strong kunoichi, wasn't that good enough?

He didn't really care, he had already been living with her for half a decade. And plus, he had already proposed to her. Breaking that engagement would be incredibly cruel, even for a Hyuuga like him.

He looked into the kunoichi's eyes for a long time, which made her uncomfortable. She could tell he was deep in thought and not in a mood for playing games with her. Her brow furrowed, "Is something wrong…?"

Neji realized Tenten noticed his concern and shook his head quickly, "Uh…no no…it's nothing…"

Tenten still had a concerned look on her face, she knew it was not nothing. Tenten shook her head a little, trying to shake the worry out of her head. She just had to focus on having a good time at the ESAKE today, right? Having a good time and…oh yeah, kicking the other kunoichis' butts.

Tenten quickly slipped out of bed and said simply to Neji, "We have to get warmed up before we go. We only have about an hour or so…"

Neji nodded and got out of bed, revealing his shirtless upper body. An immediate redness filled Tenten's cheeks and she was caught gaping at him like a fan girl. Neji smirked, "You act as if this is your first time seeing me shirtless."

Tenten's face became even redder, Neji always made her blush when she was around him shirtless. She stammered, "Yeah…well…uh…"

Neji took a stance right in their small room, "Well, are we going to warm up or not?"

Tenten was shocked at this, "Now? We haven't even changed yet…"

Neji lectured her, "It doesn't matter. A ninja should be ready to fight in any circumstance."

Tenten nodded, she knew that already. She nodded, "Ok…but it's so small in here…"

Neji continued to lecture her like a little school girl. Tenten frowned, she was out of the Konoha Academy now and was a decently high-ranking kunoichi. She didn't want to be lectured by a teacher of any sort…even if it was Neji.

"We can train short-ranged attacks," Neji explained.

Tenten nodded and Neji's fists immediately glowed a faint blue. Tenten cursed at the sight of his lethal stance, _he's gonna use Gentle Fist? I'll die before I even make it to the ESAKE._

Suddenly, the door opened immediately, causing Neji's fists to return to their normal state. The couples' attention turned to the door, cautiously anticipating what was going on.

They both sweatdropped when they saw that it was none other than Lee and Gai Sensei. "Why do you guys keep invading our privacy?" Neji asked abruptly, irritated at the spandex boys always popping up everywhere.

Gai gave him a stern look, "Is that anyways to greet your instructor, Neji?"

Neji sighed and bowed deeply in apology, which Tenten had already done, "Gomensai."

Lee ran up happily to Neji and asked with shimmering eyes, "Are you ready, Neji-san?"

Neji nodded, not knowing how else to respond. Lee was always so cheerful, he didn't want to be negative around him and crush the cheery atmosphere.

Lee looked at Tenten with big eyes, "How about you, Tenten-chan?"

Tenten nodded in the same manner as Neji, although her stomach was in knots as each minute passed. She was starting to doubt her own abilities, what if there are really great kunoichis at this exam…

An image of Temari of the Sand Village flashed through her mind, causing her to cringe as she remembered the pain of landing on Temari's giant metal fan that almost crushed every single back bone she had.

Tenten quickly remembered, _no, this exam is only for Konoha. _She let out a sigh of relief, she might have just stayed frozen in fear if she had to fight that kunoichi again. There was no way she was going to relive that experience.

Lee twirled around in circles, one leg in the air, his cheeks still pink with joy.

"Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee," he squealed.

Neji and Tenten both looked embarassed. Tenten stammered, "Wh-wh-what…"

"This is so wonderful! Team Gai is all ready for the ESAKE! We shall win for sure!" Lee squealed again.

Tenten felt like slapping her forehead. She loved Lee as a teammate dearly, he brought joy to the whole team and was great motivation at times, but he was just so…how should we put it…_embarassing_ at times like now.

Gai laughed heartily, "It does my heart good to see my students so happy!"

Tenten nodded and glanced at the clock, _it's already 5:10…I should ask Gai Sensei when the ESAKE starts._

Gai Sensei announced, "The reason why I am here is to tell you two that the ESAKE has been rescheduled and will start at 5:15 instead.

"WHAT?! BUT THAT'S IN FIVE MINUTES!!" Tenten shrieked.

"I see your math skills are still as sharp as ever, Tenten," Gai Sensei winked.

Tenten blushed, _how can Gai Sensei be joking at a time like this?_

"GAI SENSEI! WE NEED TO LEAVE NOW!" Tenten yelled.

"I am very well aware of that," Gai Sensei assured her.

Tenten sighed and started walking to the bathroom. She pulled a pair of baggy black capris and and baby pink Chinese style shirt our of the dresser on her way there. She slammed the bathroom door closed behind her.

After only about 12 seconds, Tenten came out, dressed and hair tied up into her signature hairstyle. She saw Neji had already changed into his Hyuuga robes while she was in the bathroom.

Team Gai only had 3 minutes to make it to the exam, so they sprinted as fast as they could. They would certainly make it in time though without a doubt, for they had trained their legs several hours a day until their legs could handle anything. Long distance…short distance…VERY long distance (like 300 laps around Konoha). There was absolutely no sprinting challenge the team couldn't handle.

Just as predicted, Gai Sensei, Lee, Neji, and Tenten all arrived right as the main entrace was about to close its doors. The ninjas all kneeled down, panting inside the large building. The building that the ESAKE was to take place in was the same building the Chuunin Exams were held.

Tenten shivered as she remembered this place. This was the place Temari of the Sand Village had crushed her so badly. Lee also cringed as he remembered this was the place Gaara had almost ended his career as a ninja by crushing his leg. Neji didn't really care, this was the place he beat Hinata. The only bad memory that really ever bugged Neji was his father's death. His father was the closest relative he had ever known, even closer than his mother.

The Hyuuga protigy clenched his fists as he remembered the anger he held when his father had sacrificed himself for the main branch.

Gai Sensei, seeing all of his students all tense, told them all to relax.

An ninja that they had never seen before stood in the middle of the large room and announced, "Everyone will have to find one partner of the opposite sex and enter as a pair!"

That was easy. Neji. Tenten. Done. As for Lee…things would've been much easier if Gai Sensei was a girl…which he isn't, so Lee ended up pairing up with a shy little girl that looked about 2 years younger than they were.

She looked scared to death of Team Gai. She reminded Tenten strongly of Hinata with her shy nature.

Tenten started shivering and rubbing her sleeveless arms. Everytime she exhaled oxygen she swore she could see her own condensation. She suddenly felt Neji embracing her body from behind, and all her feelings of coldness fled. All she felt was the warmth radiating from the Hyuuga's body.

Gai Sensei amiled at his students and walked over to the man in the middle, who was holding a clipboard, the pairings their group had. The man nodded and Gai Sensei walked back to the rest of the team.

The man standing in the middle raised his hand in the air and signalled for the large mass of people to quiet down. The first match was apparently about to begin. The gigantic screen on the wall read + VS +. The two blanks were flickering fast with names. It suddenly stopped and Tenten's eyes widened, "We're going already?"

The screen read in large words: Hyuuga Neji + Tenten VS Uzumaki Naruto + Hyuuga Hinata.

Tenten's face went white, she didn't want to fight her comrades. Especially not dear Hinata. She was to fragile for someone like Tenten to have the heart to break. She turned to Neji, he wasn't looking too fine himself either. He was remembering how strong Naruto was and how he had taught Neji that you could change the fate you were born into.

Neji somewhat respected this blonde haired fox boy, but he knew that in order to win, he would have to break these bonds and fight as if they didn't know each other.

"Tenten, you fight Hinata, and I'll take care of Naruto," Neji strategized. Tenten nodded. She didn't have any problem with a plan like that. She didn't think she could fight against a Jinchuuriki like Naruto anyways.

Meanwhile, Naruto was also strategizing with his shy partner, "Listen Hinata, we should both just get Tenten out of the way first and then we can deal with Neji! Tenten's not very strong and we can injure her in a few seconds if we're quick enough. Neji's the one we should worry about."

Hinata nodded and twitched a bit when she heard the name of her lethal cousin, Neji.

Neji, Tenten, Naruto, and Hinata all met in the center of the "battle field" if that's what you would prefer to call it. Neji and Tenten standing directly opposite of Naruto and Hinata, the audience standing on the floor ontop of them, staring down at them waiting for someone to make a move.

They all bowed to show respect for each other. There was an awkward silence between the four of them. They all clearly did not want to fight each other.

Naruto looked at the ground and whispered, "I'm sorry if I hurt either of you today. Don't take it personally."

Tenten looked at the blonde boy and her eyes started tearing up, _why do we have to fight our comrades?_

Neji noticed Tenten's eyes, "Tenten, a kunoichi shouldn't cry so easily."

Tenten looked at Neji again, "But…"

"Don't let your emotions get the best of you," Neji warned her before the guy in the middle started the match. He yelled, "BEGIN!"

"Baka," came the Hyuuga's voice.

Tenten turned, a bit confused at what he was talking about, but quickly realized herself. Naruto started charging at the two of them, _Naruto's as reckless as always. Doesn't he know better than to just charge at your opponent? It's a dead giveaway._ Tenten and Neji both sighed, from the looks for it, this match wasn't going to be too difficult if Naruto didn't start using more strategy, which they both knew Naruto WAS capable of doing if he tried.

Startled, Hinata turned to face Naruto.

She wasn't doing anything, just watching. She was pretrified, she had never been Naruto's fighting partner before. She had never fought by his side. And she most certainly didn't want to screw his plan up, that is, if he even had a plan. The female Hyuuga decided maybe it would be better if she just stayed back and let Naruto do all the work, she didn't want to be considered a nuisance, which a lot of people referred to her as…including her own father.

It had been a cheap shot sneaking up on her like that instead of approaching openly.

Tenten was completely caught off guard when Naruto attacked her. Naruto planned it as if he was about to openly attack her and reveal himself, but just as Tenten got ready for the attack, holding a kunai ready, Naruto quickly appeared to vanish and reappear behind Tenten. Naruto had become so quick over the years and Tenten could not believe she let him kick her so hard without her being aware of it.

Tenten was dazed, she knew she ought to have attacked him back, but she didn't. She was simply too dizzy and lethargic. Too many thoughts spinning in her head at once. Was she supposed to attack her comrades…or not…?

_What is Tenten waiting for? She could attack Naruto any moment now…_Neji thought.

Neji, quickly realizing Tenten wasn't going to move anytime soon ran over to shield her from another attack from Naruto. Naruto punched and kicked at Neji until the Hyuuga finally gentled fisted him at a vital chakra point. Naruto flew backwards and landed on the ground and seemed unable to move. Perhaps that WAS too easy…especially for Neji. Hinata quickly ran over to Naruto in a worried manner.

She shook him a few times, "Naruto-kun…are you ok?" she asked over and over again. She finally concluded it was safer to just forfeit and raised her hand, indicating they were withdrawing from the match.

Neji however, couldn't care less about Naruto or Hinata's problems. Tenten's eyes were closed and she was now falling backwards slowly.

Without thinking, Neji sprinted over to his teammate and caught her inches above the ground, saving her from what could've been a lethal fall. He secured one arm around the back of her waist and another gently behind her head.

"Tenten, are you alright?" Neji shook her slightly. He furrowed his brow, _what's happening?_

Tenten was warming up, a few beads of sweat were forming on her face. Tenten had a pained expression on her face. She was in the middle of a horrible hallucination.

_TENTEN'S DREAM_

"_AHHHHHHHHHH!" Tenten's shrill scream echoed in the red scenery that surrounded her. She didn't know what was going on. All she could see was blood red all around her. She was tied up to a pole, a piece of tape over her mouth, keeping her from making much noise._

_Someone was repeatedly stabbing her with a sword. Everytime she would scream with pain, but the pain never stopped. The piercing of her skin and organs kept occuring. Sweat was rolling down her face and she was soon extremely weak._

_Tenten panted for air. She weakly opened her eyes to see the person that was stabbing her, and to her surprise…it was her own lover, Hyuuga Neji._

_Her eyes widened and she managed to utter a single word, "Why…?"_

_Neji didn't reply but kept stabbing her with the long sword that was already covered in the girl's blood._

_There was suddenly a high-pitched giggle Tenten recognized. She didn't know how to express what she was feeling at the time when she realized Ai was right behind Neji, laughing like a maniac at Tenten._

_Neji turned around and started kissing Ai and embracing her. Ai kissed him back passionately and stole glances at Tenten, each time she would glance at Tenten she would give her a mocking look._

_Ai cooed to man that was rightfully Tenten's, "Neji-kun…would you finish this girl off for me?"_

_Neji grinned and gripped the handle of the sword firmly._

_Tenten's eyes widened, _no…Neji…

_Neji pierced the sword through Tenten's heart. The searing pain made it so that Tenten was too weak to even scream._

_END OF TENTEN'S DREAM_

Tenten was now resting on Neji's lap. The Hyuuga was staring at her intently, trying to figure out what was going on.

Tenten's expreession suddenly looked even more pained and she coughed out blood. Neji gritted his teeth, _Tenten…_

Neji looked around the room and saw something he couldn't let go of. It was Ai…Neji's eyes couldn't help but linger down to her waist area where her hands were. Her hands seemed to be casting some sort of jutsu. Neji had studied enough at the academy to know that she was performing a genjutsu.

Neji gently laid Tenten down and in a few seconds, grabbed Ai by the collar of her shirt. He whispered menacingly, "What are you doing to Tenten?"

Ai grinned shamelessly, "Nothing. I just wanted to test just how strong this little kunoichi was. Apparently, she's pretty weak…"

Neji gritted his teeth, Tenten was NOT weak. She was one of the strongest kunoichis he had ever met. He held a kunai up to Ai's throat and said, "If you stop it now, I won't have to kill you…"

Ai grinned and tisked at him, "You wouldn't want to do that, would you? You'd probably be arrested and known as a murderer the rest of your life…"

Neji continued to press the blade of the kunai closer to Ai's throat and gave her a serious look. It was clear to her that Neji didn't care if he was going to be arrested or not. He would kill her if he didn't get what she wanted.

Just as Ai was about to give in, he heard a female voice that he recognized say, "Release!"

After that he heard Naruto's voice, "Oi Neji! Sakura-chan stopped the genjutsu!"

**A/N: Thanks to mintmelodygirl, LaZyFMAgirl, Princess of Stroms, Liandrid313, Starsylvie, Mimiao, Alexa!!! again, tru-viet, Jomai, and ravenlover01400 for reviewing chapter 4! I hope you liked chapter 5! I'll post chapter 6 as soon as I get 10 reviews for chapter 5! Thanks! **


	6. Explanations

**A/N: I don't own Naruto. Enjoy!**

**---**

Chapter 6: Explanations

Neji shot one last glare at Ai before releasing his strong grip on the kunai and walking over to Tenten's limp body. She was laying on the ground helplessly, but her eyes remained closed. Neji quickly thanked Haruno Sakura for releasing Tenten from the genjutsu. Sakura smiled a bit and nodded, still worried about Tenten.

Sakura was apparently helping out at the exam by serving as a medical ninja, ready to provide medical attention to injuries as soon as they occur to try to avoid fatal outcomes of dangerous matches. This was probably a good idea because matches like these were not meant to result in heavy casualties, the purpose was mainly just to determine a shinobi's rank.

The Genin, Chuunin, and Jonin exams however, were completely different. They were extremely lethal and the survival rate was pretty low. Not many of the past Hokages really paid much attention to the deaths that occurred in these huge exams until Tsunade-sama became Hokage, since she was a former medical ninja and all.

"No problem…" Sakura looked worriedly at Tenten, "Ai seems to be a really powerful genjutsu user…"

This remark made Neji grit his teeth. Genjutsu users were to be taken seriously. Not many of his comrades used genjutsu. The only person he was remotely familiar with that knew genjutsu was Kurenai Sensei, but that was the only one he was fainlty aware of.

Neji's eyes suddenly widened and he understood why Gai Sensei had once said that 'Tenten better be careful' when Ai and her were sparring. Neji remembered how he and Lee had merely brushed this idea off. They both understood how powerful Tenten was and underestimated Ai. But of course, who wouldn't? Anyone would get the first impression that she was a shinobi-wannabe – annoying, always complaining, and weak.

Yes, most people like Ai were weak. But in this case, she was supposedly born with talent that she just can't handle. There are two types of people in the shinobi world. People born with talent…and people born with no talent. However, the amount of talent you are born with does not indicate how great of a shinobi you are. For example, Rock Lee who was born with no talent, worked his butt off and he is now an extremely strong shinobi. He just has a limit to how much he can do, and his limit is cut off at a weaker point than that of someone born with talent.

Then there's Ai, who seemed to be born with a decent amount of genjutsu talent, but doesn't work hard at all. The only thing Ai might be good at is complaining, thus making her a weak kunoichi even though she was born with talent.

Neji was one of the geniuses that was born with talent AND worked hard, thus becoming one of the strongest shinobi that has lived. His limit is at a maximum and his talent is also at a maximum. Tenten always looked up to the Hyuuga as a guardian, someone who would shield her from outside harm, and Neji would look at Tenten as a loved one to protect. He swore he would never lose her.

Neji turned to glare at Ai who had now disappeared while he was thinking, she just slipped away making as much noise as a shadow fading away on a sunny day. Neji cursed under his breath, _I wasn't even able to sense when she was leaving._ His attention turned back to Tenten whose body was laying on the ground, limp and almost lifeless.

To everyone's surprise, the brown hair kunoichi suddenly coughed up more blood. The red liquid of life and death spattered over her sickly face, not the sight Hyuuga Neji wanted to see.

He ran over to Tenten, forgetting all about his surroundings. All he could think about right now was Tenten's pain, he could only worry about finding a way to stop her pain. A puzzled Sakura looked at Tenten, _I don't understand. I released Tenten from the genjutsu. She should be fine now…_

"Tenten…" Neji persisted on trying to wake the young girl up. Tenten's eyes remained closed, the composure of her face indicated that she was weak. Neji gently lifted the girl's body and held her close to him, her face close to his chest. Neji supported her knees with one arm and her head with another.

Neji's face looked like he was about to break in a mix of anger and sorrow, but all he could do was whisper, "Tenten…gomensai…"

Neji was lost and confused in his thoughts, how could he let this happen to her. He was, after all her teammate. How could he let her just get hurt like that when he was standing right next to her?

Out of the corner of his eye, he sensed a blonde boy walking over to Neji and laying his hand on the Hyuuga's shoulder.

He heard the fox boy's voice, "Gomensai Neji…I didn't mean to…"

"It's not your fault…" the Hyuuga cut Naruto off, which made the blonde boy raise an eyebrow.

"But…but…I-I did this to her…" Naruto looked down at the ground, not being able to look at neither Tenten's body nor Neji's pained expression.

The pain of having this happen to Tenten was almost the same pain as when his father died. Neji wasn't prepared to handle this kind of melancholy again, it was too heartrending. It felt like someone had taken his heart and ripped it in two.

"No…" Neji started.

"What?" Naruto asked quietly.

"No…you didn't do anything," there was another pause from the Hyuuga, "Ai did."

Sakura, who was a close friend of Tenten's clenched her fists, "Why that little…"

"Dobe," a male's voice finished for her. Everyone turned only to find Gai Sensei, the culprit's uncle. Neji didn't even want to look at his sensei's face. He didn't feel like facing the man who introduced Ai to their team in the first place, he felt a bit of anger rise inside of him and caused himself to believe this might've all been Gai Sensei's fault.

"This is probably my fault," Gai said solemnly, as if reading the Hyuuga's complex mind.

_No kidding, _Neji thought gritting his teeth. His gaze remained on Tenten's blood-speckled face.

Gai seemed to direct his apology directly at Neji, "Gomensai, Neji-san."

_Did he just call me Neji...-san? _Gai Sensei never called his students anything too formal. Instructors usually didn't do that just to make it so that they maintained their power over their students. This was an unwritten rule of shinobis…no one questioned it, they just did this.

"Stop acting, I don't care," Neji said coldly, still refusing to tear his gaze away from Tenten.

Gai had a pained expression on his face, _he's really taking it hard._

"No, I really AM sorry. Introducing Ai was a mistake…I thought she'd benefit our group by teaching us how to defend against genjutsu…" Gai said, still attempting to break through to Neji.

Neji was so mad, and at the same time so incredibly sad. Here was his lover in his arms, half dead, and he couldn't do anything about it. He could almost…cry…

_No! What am I thinking? Hyuuga's don't cry…and besides, I promised Tenten, _Neji remembered.

_FLASHBACK_

"_Hai…hai…hai…" Tenten heard a young boy's voice coming from inside the forest. With every 'hai' would follow with a loud THUMP. This occurred when Tenten was only about 8 years old. Curiously, Tenten wandered into the forest where she heard the noise._

_She hid behind a bush to try to conceal her presence. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw a young boy with long brown hair tied into a loose ponytail who was kicking a tree. Every time his foot would make contact with the large stump, he'd make the sound 'hai.'_

_Tenten watched for a while, but the boy immediately turned to where she was hiding. She made a high pitched sound in surprise when Neji stared straight at the bush she was hiding behind, as if seeing through the leafy plant and straight at her chocolate brown eyes._

"_You can come out now, Tenten-san," Neji said blankly._

_They were both classmates at the Konoha Academy and weren't really friends. This might've even been one of the first times Neji has talked to her. She was always the one saying cheerfully in the morning, "Ohayo!" while Neji would respond with a head nod._

_Tenten reluctantly stood up and asked, "H-how did you know I was h-hiding here…?"_

_Young Neji thought about it for a while. He was intelligent enough to describe his bloodline limit, Byakugan, to her but decided it might be too complex for a little girl to understand. He was still quite arrogant back then, even at the young age he was at. He simply explained, "I have sharp eyes…that's all…"_

_Tenten looked concerned and stared at the boy's face for a long time. _He looks so sad…he looks like he needs a shoulder to cry on…

_Neji, feeling awkward at this little girl staring at him, quickly snapped, "What are you looking at?"_

_Tenten shook her head a little to snap herself back into reality, "Oh…um…nothing. You just look so sad…did something bad happen to you recently?"_

_Neji couldn't believe what he was hearing. His father had just died and he was doing his best to not show any emotion, and yet here was this little girl that didn't even know him who was basically reading his mind?_

_Neji somply nodded a bit._

_Tenten gave him a look of pure sympathy and smiled, "Oh, that must be hard…well if you ever need to let your feelings out or cry I'm alwa…"_

_Neji cut her off, "Hyuugas. Don't. Cry."_

_Tenten was a bit stunned at his coldness, _he must really be hurting inside. _Tenten decided to take a different approach, "Oh…well, crying is sometimes good, but I guess sometimes it just makes you sadder."_

_Neji didn't nod or shake his head at this. He just said, "My dad died." Neji's eyes widened a little, how could he just say that? What was he thinking? Telling someone he didn't even know that well about this?_

_Tenten gave him yet another sympathetic look, "Oh…well if your clan doesn't want you to cry, then I guess I don't want you to cry either…"_

_Neji nodded blankly. He didn't know why, but this strange girl made him feel good inside. She reminded him of his loving mother, warm and encouraging but also strong and persistent. Something about this girl made him want to protect her._

_He vowed to himself that he would never cry again. Never, for the honor of his clan, and for the sake of his female classmate._

_Ever since that day, Neji had felt something new. A new sort of feeling in his heart. He felt a type of love for this female classmate._

_END OF FLASHBACK_

He suddenly heard Haruno Sakura's voice talking to him, causing him to snap out of his flashback.

"Neji…you know that Tenten needs to get to the hospital immediately. That genjutsu was extremely powerful and even though I released it, she's probably still spooked. She needs some mental treatment as soon as possible," the pink haired kunoichi said in a worried voice.

Neji understood and only wanted what was best for his chocolate haired companion. He took one last glance at Tenten's fragile face before gently handing her over to a medical ninja who rushed her to an ambulence.

Neji clenched his fists again remembering, _Tenten hates the hospital…_

The man calling the matches walked over to Neji looking a bit confused, "So…does this mean you, Tenten-san, Narauto-san, AND Hinata-san won't be able to compete in the next rounds?"

Neji nodded, for he couldn't care less about the ESAKE anymore. Who could care about this pointless exam while his lover was in the hospital in pain from a stupid genjutsu user.

Neji remembered the days Tenten had upper respiratory problems and how he would visit her so often. It was a routine he was very comfortable with, a routine that he tried to follow to keep Tenten company in that white isolated cell they called a hospital room.

He figured he would have to start doing this again if he wanted to please Tenten. He didn't want Tenten to start thinking that he didn't care about her, which of course would never be true. He quickly told no one in specific, "I'm going to visit Tenten," before running out of the large building.

Gai, Naruto, Lee, and Hinata wouldn't be able to stop him. They didn't need to or want to. What was the point? In the end the Hyuuga's stubbornness would prove dominant anyways.

The sun was shining down on the top of Neji's head as he sprinted as fast as he could to the Konoha hospital. He had visited that place all too often and was tired of seeing people dear to him end up in that place.

In a few minutes, the Hyuuga reached the building, panting lightly for air. He walked into the main entrance, which caused many people waiting in the waiting area to turn and stare at him. He resisted the urge to say something like 'What are you looking at?' and turned to the lady at the front desk.

She recognized him and knew very well that he was Tenten's lover. She smiled warmly and asked in a small voice, "Here to see Tenten-chan?"

Neji nodded emotionlessly, just waiting to see Tenten as soon as possible. He wanted to be by her side as soon as he could, he wanted to make sure she was ok now. He barely had enough patience for this, he watched the nurse as she flipped through a small booklet searching for Tenten's name.

As she scanned the pages for Tenten's name, she would mutter, "Tenten…Tenten…Tenten…"

Neji was tapping his thigh with the tips of his fingers impatiently, trying to refrain from yelling her to hurry it up.

She finally concluded, "Ah, here she is! Room 24…"

The nurse stepped out from behind her desk and started walking down the hallway searching for room 24, Neji followed directly behind her. The hallways was the same as how it had been for several years – old, dark, and depressing. Neji nearly told the nurse that they needed to get a remodel, but out of his best judegement he decided not to. Hyuugas were not to disrespect elders, and although he didn't care if he disrespected the nurse or not, this was the Konoha hospital which belonged to the community. So disrespecting the hospital would be like dishonoring the community, which a Hyuuga was not supposed to do.

The nurse kept looking at the rooms to her left and right, that had chipped golden numbers on them. She searched for room 24, muttering, "Room 24…room 24…24…24…24…"

Neji's keen eyesight found room 24 about half a minute faster than the nurse did, but he remained silent anyways. He just grew impatient at how slow the service was becoming.

The nurse concluded, "Ah! Room 24…here we go…" she said as she turned the doorknob and opened the old white door.

Neji's ivory eyes widened slightly when he saw who was sitting next to her on the edge of her white cot. Neji didn't know how to respond, it was a man he had never seen before…or had he…? Had he seen this man before, he was so much older than him and Tenten. He looked about Gai Sensei's age.

"Konichiwa…Hyuuga-san…" the man greeted, saying Neji's name icily.

Neji froze a bit, how did this man know his name?

Seeing Neji's confusion, the man smirked, "You don't remember me, do you?"

Neji didn't like this guy one bit. He seemed to have…something _against_ the Hyuuga. Neji's mind raced frantically, trying to remember who it was, but before Neji could even respond yes or no, the man interrupted his thoughts.

"Your mind has lost it's sharpness. I was your teacher at the Academy when you and Tenten were both what? Eight years old? Ah yes, I believe it was 8. The year your father died," the man smirked again.

As soon as the man said the words'teacher' and '8 years old' Neji understood it all. He remembered who this sick man was. He in fact, WAS his teacher when he was only 8.

"Konichiwa…Sato Sensei…" Neji said this bitterly.

"Where are your manners? Didn't your father ever teach you do bow when you greet your elders?" Sato grinned at these words and continued, "Oh right, _you don't have one_." He said these words in a mocking tone.

Neji gritted his teeth, he hated this man more than ever now. He remembered Sato had feelings for Tenten even though he was a teacher and she was a mere 8-year-old student. Well, many male students did back then. She was pretty, strong, and kind. Many liked her more than Yamanaka Ino only because many thought she was much kinder than Ino.

But this sick teacher actually had _feelings _for Tenten, and that was one reason why he _hated _Neji.

_FLASHBACK_

_It was the day after Tenten had talked to Neji in the forest about not crying._

_Tenten had just gotten a jade bracelet from her father that she absolutely adored. A few boys were bullying young Tenten by grabbing the bracelet off of her wrist and not giving it back to her._

"_Give it back!" a young Tenten yelled._

"_You're so weak and short!" the boys teasing her taunted._

_Tenten's eyes started to tear up, _I am not weak…

_Seemingly out of no where, the Hyuuga she had just talked to yesterday snatched bracelet out of the boys hand. The Hyuuga's skills were so swift, no one was even aware that he had done so._

"_Leave. Her. Alone." Neji said clearly, his clenched fists glowing light blue. The boy fled in fear of the Hyuuga killing them, for they knew he was capable of doing such a thing._

_Tenten was on the verge of crying, "A-a-arigato…Hyuuga-san…" in the classroom, they had to call each other in the respective way – by their last name with a –san or –kun if they wished. The only exception was Tenten, for her last name has always been unknown. It was not until Team Gai was formed when they were 13 years old that they called each other 'Neji' and 'Tenten.'_

_She suddenly saw a hankerchief being handed to her by Neji. He simply said, "Don't cry."_

_Tenten started to blush, she had only really gotten to know him a little yesterday, and now there was a completely new feeling toward this classmate…could it be love?_

_Seeing Tenten blush, Sato Sensei was enraged with jealousy, _no, I am supposed to be Tenten's first love, not that Hyuuga brat.

_Sato Sensei walked over to Tenten and hugged her a little too intimately, "Tenten-san, are you ok?"_

_Tenten, feeling uncomfortable, looked over at Neji who was staring suspiciously at his teacher. Her eyes seemed to be asking Neji for help, but Neji couldn't do anything about it._

_Ever since that day, Tenten realized her love for Neji, and she always feared Sato Sensei. She would try to avoid him whenever she was walking the opposite direction in the hallways. Several times, she would ask Neji to walk with her, causing him to blush a little, but nevertheless agree with a head nod._

_END OF FLASHBACK_

"Tenten has grown into a rather…_lovely_ woman…" the man said. Neji did his calculations, his teacher should be in his mid-thirties right now! (Just like Gai Sensei.) Neji gagged inside his mind, _disgusting._ The man continued, "According to my memory…she should be about…21 now, am I correct?"

Neji nodded coldly.

Sato Sensei rubbed his chin, "Wow…21 years old. The last time I taught you guys was…13 years ago…"

Neji glared at his former teacher, "Why are you here?"

He grinned, "It's all part of my plan, Hyuuga-san…"

Tenten stirred a bit on her bed and opened her eyes. She woke up to the site of a man sitting on the edge of her bed and the Hyuuga in the doorway.

She looked confused, "Wh-what's going on…?"

Sato Sensei grinned, "Hey honey, how are you feeling?"

Tenten blinked in confusion, "H-honey? Are we…married?"

Neji couldn't believe what he was hearing, _married? What's wrong with you Tenten? I'm your fiance!_

Sato grinned, "Yes sweetie, now go back to sleep. You need your rest."

Tenten nodded sleepily and dozed off. Neji gritted his teeth, "What was that all about?"

Sato grinned again, "Tenten has caught amnesia thanks to…my daughter…and now I can manipulate Tenten's mind however I want. She doesn't remember who you are, who her friends are, who anyone is. She'll just remember all the new information that I tell her."

Neji simply clenched his fists, "Your…_daughter?_" He understood perfectly now. Ai was his daughter. This was Gai Sensei's brother. Why does Gai have to have such screwed up family members?

Haruno Sakura suddenly walked into the hospital room and told Sato, "Sato-san, you have exceeded your time limit for visiting Tenten. You must let Neji spend his time with Tenten now."

Sato reluctantly got off the edge of the bed and walked over to the doorway. He smirked, "Farewell, Hyuuga-san…" before exiting the hospital room. Sakura looked genuinely confused. She asked curiously after closing the door behind them, "Does he know you?"

Neji looked back at Tenten's bed before sighing, "Let's sit down by Tenten first…then I'll explain."

**---**

**A/N: Thanks to mintmelodygirl, Jomai, Quiet Moon, Princess of Stroms, Starsylvie, Sailor Kunoichi, nejitenten4eva, tru-viet, tentenxnejiluva, and LaZyFMAgirl for reviewing chapter 5! I hope everyone liked chapter 6! I'll post chapter 7 as soon as I get 10 reviews for chapter 6! Thanks for your support **


	7. Healing

**A/N: I don't own Naruto. Enjoy!**

**---**

Chapter 7: Healing

Sakura nodded hesitantly before following the Hyuuga, who was now sitting down on the edge of Tenten's bed. Sakura pulled up a wooden chair and sat down next to Tenten's bed, waiting for Neji to start his explanation. Neji looked at Tenten's face for a long time before looking up at Sakura. He feared Tenten waking up and not remembering who he was at all.

Sakura, working part time at the Konoha Hospital, was already equipped with all the information she needed to know about Tenten's amnesia. She just didn't understand the whole Sato and Ai working together concept.

Sakura decided to break the tension between them, "So…who was that man…?"

Neji simply replied, "Sato…" pausing before he added, "Sensei…"

Sakura's eyes widened. She was in the same class as Neji and Tenten when they were 8 years old. Sakura also remembered how he always acted so perverted toward innocent little Tenten. Sakura stuttered a little, "What happened…to Tenten?"

Neji swallowed and took a few breaths before answering this question. He remained to look at the hospital ground while talking to Sakura, "Ai, his daughter, gave her amnesia, so he could manipulate her into thinking he's her…husband…"

Sakura didn't know how to react, "They're…related?"

Neji nodded simply. Sakura scowled in disgust, "That is the most…_revolting _thing I have EVER heard in my life!"

Sakura, being a good friend of Tenten's was now extremely angry. She was cussing all over the place, but seeing Neji not responding, decided to take a lighter approach.

"Well…I'll make sure he doesn't get away with this," Sakura said, a determined look on her face. Neji looked at this girl that had changed so much since she was a Genin. This pink haired medical ninja used to be just a person that took up space in missions, just someone who stood back and watched her teammates fight for her. Now, she was a completely different female. She was strong, confident, and extremely useful as a medical ninja.

Neji would've tried to force a smile at her persistence, but he couldn't. This situation made him want to jump off a building. Tenten stirred a bit and opened her eyes, which were blurry at first. She saw a male figure sitting at the edge of her bed.

"Sato…?" Tenten muttered sleepily.

Neji twitched when he heard that wretched name. But he said softly, "No…it's Neji…"

Tenten blinked a few times and her vision became clear. She didn't recognize this male with long dark brown hair and ivory eyes at all. She whispered, "I…don't know you."

Neji clenched his fists, and sighed, "It's ok." Neji stood up and started walking to the door.

Sakura stammered, "N-neji! Where are you going?"

"Tenten doesn't need me," Neji simply said before shutting the door firmly. The door shut before Sakura had a chance to protest. Tenten looked in a confused way at Sakura, "Are you the nurse…?"

Sakura sighed but replied, "Yes, I am."

"What's _his _problem?" Tenten asked, referring to Neji as the 'him.' Something about him seemed so familiar. It was on the tip of her tongue, she faintly remembered his face from somewhere. Somewhere…but she just…couldn't put her finger on it no matter how hard she strained her memory.

"He's just…upset," Sakura explained, looking worried. She understood how much it must've hurt Neji, to see his lover forget their whole past. To have Tenten forget that they've loved each other since they were 8 years old. To have Tenten to forget how happy she was when Neji proposed to her just a few years ago.

"Why?" Tenten asked, still having no clue about what was going on.

Sakura bit her bottom lip, her mind racing, trying to figure what to tell this girl.

"He kind of…uh…lost the love of his life…" these were the words that Sakura let escape from her mouth.

"Did she die?" Tenten asked.

"No…she just uh…_forgot _all about her love for him somehow…" Sakura was starting to get a headache. How was she supposed to explain this to Tenten? She didn't want to tell her the true past, for she was scared that Tenten couldn't handle too much new information at once. But if she didn't tell her, would it be too late?

Tenten looked down at her white sheets sadly. "Forgot…" Tenten repeated the word solemnly to Sakura.

Sakura looked curiously at Tenten, _what is going on in that mind of hers?!_

Tenten looked at Sakura all of a sudden and asked, "Did something happen to me?"

Sakura was taken aback, "Uh…why do you ask?"

Tenten looked down at her bed, "I forget everything that's happened in my life…"

Sakura's lower lip started quivering, it just wasn't fair that this all had to happen to Tenten! What did Tenten ever do to anyone? Sakura resisted the urge to start sobbing, she had to help Tenten through this!

"Listen Tenten. Don't listen to anything Sato says, he's not your husband. It's all lies."

Tenten looked at Sakura in a questioning way, "Really?"

Sakura nodded right before a nurse clad in the usual white uniform opened the door. The attention of both Tenten and Sakura turned to the door. The nurse smiled, "I hope I'm not intruding!"

"Not at all," Tenten and Sakura both said at the exact same time, causing Tenten to giggle afterwards. Sakura looked sypathetically at this innocent girl who. This innocent girl that didn't deserve the events that occurred to her.

"Well, Tenten-san. We, the medical team, have concluded that we cannot improve your status by keeping you in this room. You need to get out and experience the world again if you want any chance of healing your memory defects," the nurse replied cheerfully.

Tenten nodded but then quickly added, "Where do I live?"

Sakura bit her lip again, and hesitantly told the poor girl, "Tenten…your parents are…um…deceased…"

Tenten looked down and said quietly, "Oh…I see…"

The nurse quickly added when she saw Tenten's mood fall, "But that's why you live with Hyuuga-san!"

Tenten looked questioningly at the nurse then Sakura, "W-who's…Hyuuga-san?"

"Oh, she means Neji!" Sakura exclaimed, forcing a small smile on her face, trying to lift Tenten's spirits.

"Neji…the guy that was sitting next to me a while ago?" Tenten asked, remembering the troubled young man with those unique eyes.

Sakura nodded, "Hai…he's your fiance…"

Tenten looked a bit stunned and she remembered Sakura's words. She had said Neji was upset because he had lost his lover. Tenten now understood what this medical ninja was talking about now.

"Is he really?" Tenten asked, not sure if she was to believe what she was hearing.

Sakura nodded and dug through her large purse full of medical forms. She finally dug up a fairly large stack of miscellaneous photos of all her friends. She sorted through the pictures, _let's see here, where are they…Naruto and Hinata, no…Shikamaru and Temari, no…me and Sasuke _(making her blush when she saw these pictures)_, no…ah here they are!_

Sakura handed some of the pictures to Tenten to view. Tenten looked at the first picture. In the picture was Tenten with her signature twin buns. She glomped Neji from behind, while he blushed a little.

Tenten tilted her head a little, "Why is my hair like that?" At the moment, Tenten's hair was down, so she didn't really understand why her hair was in such a funny style.

"It's just your signature hairstyle," Sakura explained, _wow, she really IS clueless._

Tenten flipped to the second picture, it showed her (with her twin buns again) only this time she was wearing a lavender bikini. She was on the scenery of a beach, which she could tell because of the ocean and palm trees in the background. Neji's arm was around her waist and he was shirtless, revealing his muscular upper body.

Tenten stared at that picture for a moment. She stared at Neji's body, something in her mind wanted to kind of just go _click_. She had a faint memory about this Hyuuga shirtless…something about privacy? Something about…going in the bathroom? Something about…Byakugan? Wait, what IS Byakugan? She didn't even have any idea what that word meant.

Brushing that thought aside, Tenten flipped to the next photo. In this one, Tenten's hair was down in long chocolate waves, and she was wearing a rather attractive small black dress. This picture was very formal, and Neji was wearing a tuxedo and it looked like one of those prom pictures you took under a full moon. His arms were around her waist and her arms were on his shoulders, like they were about to dance, but their heads both faced the camera. Tenten stared at the Hyuuga, she felt the urge to remember him. Somehow, seeing him sad…made her troubled too.

Tenten gingerly handed the photos back to Sakura, thanking her for revealing a small bit of her past to her. Although, Tenten still couldn't remember much of it. She just had a feeling that this Neji person had a bigger role in her life than she had anticipated.

"Arigato," Tenten thanked pleasantly as she handed the pictures back to Sakura. Tenten thought for another moment before asking, "Is he a good man?"

Sakura smiled and said, "Yes, he's very gentlemanlike," before taking the photos and stuffing them carefully into her unorganized purse. "I'll walk you back to Neji's house," Sakura offered.

Tenten nodded and carefully got out of bed. She slipped on a pair of sandals and tied her hair up into two buns. She looked at Sakura, "This is how I put my hair up?"

Sakura nodded, _maybe there's hope. Neji always finds a way to make Tenten smile._

---

While Sakura and Tenten were walking to Neji's house, Tenten was chock full of questions.

"So, does Neji live with his parents?"

"They're dead too."

"Oh, is he strong?"

"Definitely…but so are you."

"I'm a kunoichi?"

"Uh, yes. You want to be just like Tsunade-sama."

"Who's that?"

"The Fifth Hokage."

"Oh."

The questions had to end there because they were now at the porch or Neji's house. Tenten looked around at the empty scenery around her, his house wasn't too fancy, yet the style was a bit comforting. Sakura was just about to knock on the door when Neji opened it, a blank stare on his face when he saw who was at his porch.

Tenten stared at him, _is this really the guy I like?_

Sakura, a little shocked, started off, "Oh, Neji! I was just walking with Tenten here…it was the doctor's orders…"

Neji nodded and motioned for his female teammate to come in. Not exactly knowing if she should go in, Tenten gave Sakura a questioning look, which Sakura returned with a smile and a nod – indicating it was safe to be alone with Neji. Tenten looked back at the Hyuuga who was now staring intently at her.

There was something about his strong gaze that made her incredibly uncomfortable. Sakura smiled a little before stepping off the porch and walking to the hospital. She didn't want to further interfere with their time together.

Tenten slowly walked into the Hyuuga's house when he closed the door firmly behind her. Tenten looked worried as she looked at the Hyuuga again. He was now just staring blankly at the floor. The female kunoichi spoke up a little, "Neji…?"

Neji, gaze remaining on the floor, smirked. He suddenly looked at Tenten, a look that she dreaded greatly. This could _not _be the man she loved. His stare was so surly…and doggish. She remembered what Sakura had said, '_Yes, he's very gentlemanlike.' _Tenten, who didn't know what to do, backed up into a corner of the house and shrunk a bit. This man was now advancing on her in the corner. Tenten could only wimper, "N-Ne…ji…"

---

Sakura decided to walk into the marketplace in Konoha to buy some groceries. She hadn't done that in forever and her fridge was looking a little empty these days. She walked into a small local grocery store when she spotted a man with brown hair in what seemed to be Hyuuga robes paying at the counter for a bag of groceries. Sakura's brow furrowed, _is that Neji? _Sakura thought for another minute, _wasn't he just at his house?_

The man paid for his groceries and started walking out the shop before Sakura ran up to him and shouted, "Neji!" Neji stopped in his tracks and looked back to find the pink-haired medical ninja.

Sakura ran up by the Hyuuga's side before panting heavily. She said between breaths, "Where's…Tenten?"

Neji's brow furrowed, "Isn't she at the hospital?"

This time it was Sakura's turn to look confused, "I just dropped her off at your house."

"I haven't been in my house since this morning," Neji reasoned.

Sakura's eyes widened, "But…but…you were just at your house and I dropped Tenten off!"

Neji cursed under his breath and sprinted toward the direction of his house, dropping his paper bag of groceries.

"Wait, Neji!" Sakura called after him, but couldn't get him to stop. The pink-haired girl picked up the dropped bag of groceries and ran after the quick Hyuuga.

---

Neji quickly spotted his house, whose door was opened wide. He swore again before running into the house and calling Tenten's name. There was no response. Neji pounded his fist on the wall before Sakura caught up to him and gave him a worried look.

"What happened?" Sakura almost whispered.

"Sato must've used a jutsu to make himself look like me…he must've taken Tenten."

Sakura urged him, "Then let's go!"

Neji looked up at her and nodded, the two of them determined to makes sure Tenten was safe. Tenten was Neji's world, both his parents were dead so there was no one else to live for but her. Tenten wasn't Sakura's world, but they were close friends and comrades, and she couldn't bear seeing any one of her comrades getting hurt.

Neji activated his Byakugan, following the traces of chakra from Sato and Tenten. He quickly found their trail and directed Sakura in the direction that they were to go, his sense of direction as sharp as ever. Sakura nodded and followed quietly behind Neji, making sure she wasn't loud and in the way.

The chakra trail led them to the area of Sato's house. The scenery gave Sakura the chills, she didn't like her surroundings at all. His house was broken down and dark, and Tenten was probably in that house with him right now.

Before Sakura could think, Neji was already banging on the door. Sakura ran up to him, making sure she was standing behind him when Sato answered the door. There wasn't any response, no 'I'll get it!' or 'Coming!' Neji didn't have enough patience for this, and he quickly gentle fisted the run-down door to the ground.

The inside of the house was no more welcoming than the outside was, the interior of the building made Sakura shiver. She didn't want to walk into that place, the building was practically the generic scary movie scenery. _Is Sato not home right now?_ Neji thought for a while.

A certain door caught the Hyuuga's eye, the door farthest down the hallway. This building seemed to be pretty simple, just a one level building. There was no creepy winding staircase, much to Sakura's relief. The building was pretty much just one straight line, a long dark hallway.

"Who can live in a crap room like this?" Sakura thought out loud.

"A crap teacher like Sato," Neji answered without even having to think.

Neji walked straight to the last door of the hallway and knocked, Sakura following straight behind him again.

"Why did you pick the last door?" Sakura almost whispered.

"All the other doors are open," Neji pointed out.

Sakura quickly observed her surroundings, realizing Neji was correct. All the other doors of the building were wide open, only the last one was closed.

Neji paused for a few seconds before asking, "Is anyone in there?"

There was a longer pause before they both heard Tenten's soft voice, "Go away Sato."

Neji, pausing for a few more seconds said, "It's Neji."

They could hear someone limping heavily to the door.

A few moments later, a teary-eyed Tenten opened the door. She looked straight into Neji's eyes while he couldn't tear his gaze away from her face, which was now covered in cuts and bruises.

"What happened," Neji whispered, awestruck, as he gently laid his right hand on her face.

Tenten didn't verbally respond, instead her eyes filled with more tears and she laid her forehead on Neji's chest. The tears were now rolling down her cheeks, the scene made almost made Sakura teary-eyed as well. Neji didn't need a verbal response to understand that this was all Sato's fault, and he wouldn't forgive Sato for anything. The Hyuuga gently placed his arms around Tenten in attempt to calm her down.

Sakura broke into their moment and asked quickly, "Where's Sato?"

Tenten sniffed back a few tears before looking up at the pink-haired medical ninja and explained, "He's out buying something…he didn't tell me what."

Neji couldn't hold the question in any longer, "What happened to your face."

Tenten looked down before looking back up at Neji's eyes, "I told Sato I wanted to go see you, and…" she paused, her voice started trembling slightly.

Neji urged her to continue, "And…?"

"And then he got angry with me and started beating me and throwing things at me…then he left quickly and told me to stay in this room…"

Neji questioned, "why didn't you just leave and find me?"

"I don't know my way around Konoha that well…and Sato threatened that if I left the room, he would beat me again," Tenten explained.

Sakura clenched her fists and said loudly, "Well, we're taking you back to Neji's house, and if Sato even tries to come in, I'll give him a piece of my mind!"

Tenten nodded and looked up and Neji, who was motioning for her to walk first. Tenten looked down a little before breaking away from Neji's body and attempting to walk towards the door. She limped a little before falling to the ground. Luckily though, Neji had somewhat anticipated this, so he quickly caught her before she hit the floor.

"Arigato," Tenten said quietly to the ivory-eyed prodigy.

Neji nodded and picked Tenten up, "I'm just going to have to carry you."

Tenten looked straight into Neji's eyes, which caused Neji to blush slightly and continue walking out the door. Tenten's lips broke into a small smile, somehow being in this man's arms delivered her great comfort.

---

As soon as they reached the Hyuuga's front step, Sakura suggested, "You and Tenten can go into your room, I'll stay out here and guard the door."

Neji nodded in affirmation, and opened the door. He carried Tenten up the stairs and into his room. He gently laid her down on the bed, and she groaned in pain.

Neji looked at his teammate and said quickly, "Does your whole body have wounds?"

Tenten nodded.

Neji looked down for a brief second before blushing a bit and asking, "Do you want me to heal them for you?"

Tenten looked surprised at the question, she could've answered no if she wanted to, but she didn't want to answer him that way, so she said quickly, "Yes please."

Neji struggled for a bit, he would probably have to take off her clothes for a while to heal her wounds. He didn't know why he was struggling, he's been next to her in a bathhouse and he slept with her every night, _and _he watched her change every morning anyways. Why was it so hard to do this? He was just going to heal her wounds.

This was different though, he didn't want to feel like he was violating her. He had too much respect for this teammate to do that. Ever since she had amnesia, he couldn't act the same around her. He had to be extra gentle and extra careful.

He stuttered a bit, "D-do you want Sakura to do it instead? I could switch places with her…I-I mean I could…guard the door and she could heal you…"

Tenten smiled gently at him before saying, "No…I want you to do it."

**A/N: Sorry, I had extreme trouble with this chapter. The last chapter kind of twisted everything, and I've been so busy lately! I'm leaving in 6 days to Asia for about 6-7 weeks, so I'll try to finish this story before I leave. Haha, I'll just have to write like crazy!!! Also, thanks for your reviews and thanks for being patient!! Really appreciate you guys! I'll try to get the next chapter out really soon!**


	8. Tenten's Teasing

**A/N: I don't own Naruto. Enjoy!**

**---**

Chapter 8: Tenten's Teasing

Neji blushed, "Well, um…uh…are you sure?"

Tenten nodded again with a gentle smile on her face. Neji took a deep breath, a hesitant look on his face. Tenten's gaze remained calm and steady. Neji slowly reached his hands out, any second now he would be healing Tenten's wounds. Any second now…

Neji's hands started trembling slightly, his mind was racing in circles. _I want to heal her wounds, but I feel guilty like this._ He laid his hand on Tenten's upper abdomen, his hand still trembling.

Neji warned Tenten slowly, "Um, Tenten, I'm going to have to…"

Neji's warning was cut short when they both heard a loud crash from downstairs, Neji instantly knew Sakura had run into trouble. _She probably threw a boulder at Sato, _Neji thought to himself. It seems like something typical she would do, she always threatened Naruto and Kakashi by picking up giant boulders to remind them of her brute strength.

"NEJI! GET DOWN HERE NOW!" they heard Sakura shout.

Neji briefly glanced at Tenten before telling her, "Stay here, I'll be back."

Tenten smiled innocently and nodded, she felt comfortable knowing that this Hyuuga was looking after her. But before Neji even had a chance to go aid Sakura in battle, Sato popped into the room they were in. Sakura right behind him, trying to stop him.

Sakura looked at Neji, "Sorry, I tried to stop him but…"

Neji quickly grabbed Tenten off the bed she was laying on as Sato lunged for her. In fear, Tenten burried her face in Neji's chest. Neji took a small glance at Tenten with worry before looking back up at the sick man who hurt her with menacing eyes. Neji watched Sato as the teacher's eyes lingered down to Tenten. He grinned in amusement when he saw the fear in Tenten's body language.

"Hand over Tenten," Sato said slowly, a grin still plastered on his face.

Neji scowled, "Over my dead body."

Sakura was now standing in the doorway, just staring at the scene. To her this was somewhat like a drama movie, Neji being the hero and Sato being the bad guy (of course). She actually found this being quite romantic. The hero protecting his girl, the bad guy trying to get the girl, the hero not letting him…

"SAKURA! PAY ATTENTION!" she heard Neji's voice shout in her direction.

"What?" Sakura broke out of her little trance to find Sato holding a kunai up to Neji's throat.

The only thing keeping Sato's kunai from slitting his throat was a kunai Neji had quickly pulled out of his pocket. Neji, using his own kunai, was trying to push Sato's back, but Sato's was slowly getting closer and closer to Neji's throat. Sakura, feeling slightly guilty for daydreaming like that, rushed over to Neji, ready to aid him. She quickly punched him in the side from behind, and that was enough for him to drop on the floor in pain.

Sato was now on the floor, clutching his side and gasping for air. He was saying something quietly like "I think my ribs are broken" or something like that, none of them could hear because he was so out of breath.

"Do you think I might've overdone it?" Sakura asked, trying to refrain from laughing at his pain.

Neji stared at Sato with merciless eyes before replying, "No I think you gave him what he deserved…" Neji looked back at Tenten's face which was still covered in bruises, "for what he did to Tenten."

Sakura smiled, "You're rather protective of Tenten, aren't you Neji?"

Neji scowled at the pink-haired girl without responding to her statement. He was a Hyuuga – too arrogant to admit that he was protective over anyone.

Sakura giggled, seeing Neji's frustration. The Hyuuga shot a glare at her telling her there would be consequences if she didn't stop.

His attention quickly turned back to the man laying on the floor in pain. "Are you sure you only punched him?" Neji asked.

Sakura nodded in confirmation.

Neji sighed, looking again at the victim of Sakura's amazing strength, "Nothing less from Sakura I suppose…"

Sakura's smile quickly turned into a frown as she pondered out loud, "What should we do now that this man is down? Should we…"

"Kill him," the Hyuuga said bitterly without thinking.

As much as Sakura knew he deserved it, she couldn't bring herself to actually killing someone. She knew how much pain death caused. She was capable of hurting someone, but most of the time was too soft-hearted to actually put anything to death, unlike the guy she most admired – Uchiha Sasuke.

Seeing the look of hesitation in Sakura's eyes, Neji sighed, "Or we could just settle for bringing him to the Fifth to deal with him."

Sakura sighed in relief, it would be much easier letting Tsunade-sama or some ANBU kill Sato. As much as Neji wanted to avenge Tenten, he knew killing someone right then and there in front of Tenten could cause feelings of fear towards the Hyuuga. Right now Tenten was really as emotionally fragile as a small child, she didn't even remember that she was a kunoichi for a while.

"Hyuuga-san…" came Tenten's small voice.

Neji turned his attention back to the girl in his arms. He forced a gentle look on his face, making every effort to make Tenten feel comfortable around him. "Neji," he simply said.

Tenten started to stammer again, "Neji…"

The Hyuuga nodded, "Hn?"

"Um…you can put me down now," Tenten said in an innocent tone.

Sakura couldn't keep herself from bursting out with laughter at Tenten's comment. Neji blushed and quickly put Tenten down apologetically.

Sakura found this to be one of the perfect moments to tease Neji again, "Aww how sweet. Neji's so protective, he can't let Tenten go even when the bad guy's nearly dead."

Neji, a blush still in his cheeks, shot yet another glare at this medical ninja.

He smirked before snapping, "At least the person I'm dating doesn't think I'm annoying."

After a few moments, realizing he was referring to Sasuke calling her annoying, she shot back in defense, "Hey, that was like eight years ago! You don't see him calling me annoying now, ne?"

Neji raised an eyebrow, "You'd be surprised…"

The Haruno stuck her tongue out in response.

Tenten cocked her head slightly in a bit of confusion. Neji and Sakura, both seeing Tenten's confusion, decided not to poision her innocence. Sakura quickly clapped her hands together with forced happiness and suggested that they go bring Sato's body to Tsunade-sama right away. Neji nodded in agreement before smirking, "But _you_ have to carry Sato's body over to her office."

Sakura's happiness immediately washed away at this, and she growled, "WHAT?! NO WAY! YOU DO IT!"

Their quarreling restarted quickly. Neji shook his head, "I'm walking with Tenten. Besides, you punched him, you should at _least _be the one to bring him to the Fifth."

Sakura sighed, she didn't know how to argue with that. She didn't want to be the one to carry that pervert _all the way_ to the Hokage's office. She was boiling with anger. The Haruno, without thinking, walked up to Sato's body and kicked him on the same side as hard as she could swearing loudly. Sato rolled over a bit and moaned loudly, clutching his broken ribs. Sakura pointed at Sato, "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!!"

Tenten found herself gaping at Sakura's fury, not knowing what to think. Neji noticed Tenten watching Sakura and explained quickly, "Don't worry. That only happens if Sakura gets mad."

Tenten laughed nervously, "Oh…hehe…"

Sakura smiled warmly at Tenten, "Don't worry, I would never ever do this to you!"

Tenten giggled nervously again. She felt Neji's hand find it's way to hers, making her blush a bit. He looked at her, "We should get going now."

Neji found Tenten's response quiet shocking. Tenten smiled warmly at Neji and put both her hands around Neji's. She gave him a look of appreciation, "Weren't you about to heal my wounds?"

The Hyuuga felt all the blood rush up to his cheeks, his whole face felt like it was about to burn up. Sakura cocked her head at Neji, having a feeling she knew what he had offered to do. Normally she would have reinformed Tenten that she herself was a real trained medical ninja, but decided to keep quiet, seeing the romantic moment that could blossom from this opportunity between Neji and Tenten.

Sakura stuck her tongue out at Neji in a teasing way, "Have fun healing Tenten…" she paused for a while and her smile wiped away yet again, "while I get to bring Sato to the Hokage's office."

Without sparing a moment, Sakura was off dragging Sato by the collar of his shirt to the Hokage's office. Tenten's hand was covering her mouth. She looked at Neji, "Is he going to get hurt if Sakura drags him on the ground like that?"

Neji looked at Tenten's eyes making sure she was actually serious. He reminded himself that she was probably the most innocent person in Konoha right now. He sighed, "Sato will be fine…" Neji soon realized that this new version of Tenten didn't like seeing anything getting hurt.

Tenten nodded and her bruised legs suddenly gave out. She fell right into Neji's arms, causing both of them to blush deeply. She stammered, "S-sorry Neji, my legs are j-just…"

Neji nodded, still blushing, "I-it's fine…"

He quickly carried Tenten back to the bed. He struggled to reach his hands out. The exact same thing happened as before. He layed his hand on her upper abdomen, hand now trembling. Tenten noticed his struggle and smiled in gratitude. She understood he was hesitant out of respect for her. Neji took another deep breath and was about to begin when…

"NEJI-SAN!" a small version of Team Gai's sensei bursted in through the door.

A vein on Neji's temple twitched irritably, "What. Is. It. Lee."

Lee was about to say something when something caught his attention, "Oh, are you busy or something, Neji-san? You seem awfully cranky today."

Neji tried to stay calm, "Lee."

"I mean it doesn't look like you're doing anything. It is just you and Tenten so I assumed that you weren't doing anything really important or anything because you and Tenten are always together just for the sake of it and so being together is not unusual. So as you can see, I have good reasons for not knowing it if you are busy, which you are not, am I correct? If I am not please let me…" Lee continued on and on with his long explanations.

"Lee." Neji said, still trying to stay calm.

"Also, the funniest thing happened on my way over here. In fact, so funny, I do not think you will be able to believe it. You see I was taking my daily prance through the park, picking some beautifully delicate pink flowers on the way. Wait a minute…were they pink? I think they were…"

"Lee."

"No wait, maybe they were orange. Or maybe they were pink with a slight _tint _orange. Is there a specific name for that color? Magenta…bergandy…mahogany…no wait? Is mahogany even a color? Wait, mahogany is a tree…oh wait it is a color too! OHHH I KNOW NOW! THE FLOWERS WERE…"

"**Lee!!!**" Neji yelled with all his fury.

Lee shrunk back in fear, his mouth slightly smaller. Neji took a deep breath, relieved that he finally got that green beast to shut up. There was a slightly awkward silence.

"Periwinkle…" Lee said in a tiny voice.

"What?" Neji scowled.

"Periwinkle…the flowers were...periwinkle…" Lee continued to shrink back.

Neji's scowl grew deeper. _Isn't periwinkle a shade of…__**blue? **_Neji shook that thought from his head, _what am I thinking? WHO CARES!_

Neji said in a slow and slightly menacing voice, "Lee. I'm busy healing Tenten. Please lea…"

Lee interrupted, just bursting with excitement, a huge smile on his face, "YOU'RE HEALING TENTEN-CHAN?!?"

Neji nodded slowly.

Pink circles formed on Lee's cheeks, his eyes sparkled delightfully, "NEJI-SAN!! I would like to increase my knowledge of medical procedures…for my own _personal _matters…" (in Lee's mind: _I will become greater to Sakura-chan than that Sasuke of hers by being more intelligent in medical matters!!_)

Lee continued, "So it would be an honor to me if you could let me watch!!"

Neji was shocked at this concept of Lee watching him take Tenten's clothes off and touch her wounds. Neji looked around the room and tried to avoid Lee's gaze, as if that would help in some way. The Hyuuga frantically tried to think of what to do. Would he crush his comrade if he simply said no. Like _that _mattered, he's crushed the taijutsu boy millions of times, now wouldn't be any different, but the Hyuuga would have to explain his reason for rejecting the offer.

What would he say if Lee asked, 'Why?' with a puppy dog face? What would he do then? How would he respond? 'Oh, you can't watch because I have to strip Tenten's clothes off and I'm the only man allowed to see her body.'

Neji looked back at Lee, who was still happily anticipating an answer. He asked again, "Oh please Neji-san, can I, can I?"

All of a sudden, a female figure entered the room.

"SAKURA-CHAN!!" Lee cried, his eyes immediately turning into hearts.

Sakura yelped in surprise and threw a small pouch she had in her hand. The pouch seemed to contain something like pebbles. With Sakura's super strength, the pouch hit Tenten's forehead pretty hard. Tenten's gasped for air a little before closing her eyes.

Sakura almost screamed, "Wh-what are you doing here, L-Lee?" the pink haired medical ninja looked at Neji and Tenten – who now looked unconcious, "Neji, why didn't you heal Tenten while I was gone?"

Neji felt like slapping his forehead.

Lee answered for Neji, "I asked Neji-san if he would allow me to watch him heal Tenten-chan! I would like to increase my knowledge in healing!"

Seeing Neji's sticky situation, Sakura grabbed Lee's hand.

Lee blushed, "Sakura-chan…you are…h-holding…my hand…" Lee sounded like he was about to faint from happiness.

Sakura forced a smile, "Now Lee, wouldn't you rather take a walk with me around Konoha?"

Lee declared a victory inside his head, _take THAT Sasuke! I have stolen her heart by simply telling her I was interested in medical stuff!_

Sakura pulled him out of Neji's house. On the way out the door, she glanced at Neji – an incredibly thankful and relieved look on his face. _The Hyuuga DOES deserve a break from all that he's already gone through…taking Lee off his shoulders is the least I could do for those two…_Sakura thought.

---

So now it was that faithful moment, the moment when Neji and Tenten were now alone again. Neji looked a bit worried at Tenten's face. But at least he didn't feel any pressure now for healing Tenten. He took one last deep breath before unbuttoning her white hospital shirt and slipping it off her slender figure. Next he slipped off her baggy black capris. The treatment wouldn't require him to take off her undergarments.

Neji's attention turned back to the small white pouch that hit Tenten's forehead, which was now laying by Tenten's side. He turned it and read to himself, _Medicine for Tenten's Wounds_. He recognized the handwriting to be Tsunade-sama's. _Sakura must've picked this up while at the Hokage's office, _Neji thought.

The Hyuuga untied the string on the pouch and found several large tablets. This brought back a few memories of a healing lesson he had at the Konoha Academy before he was a Genin. He emptied the tablets into a cup of tap water and held his hand over the top of the cup, expelling his chakra into the mixture. The tablets quickly dissolved and the liquid thickened into a sort of cream to rub on Tenten's wounds.

Neji took some of the cream on his finger and traced a cut on Tenten's lower abdomen. It disappeared instantly.

"Sheez, this is some strong stuff," Neji thought aloud.

Well, nothing less from Tsunade-sama right? Tsunade – the Fifth Hokage. Tsunade – the legendary female Sannin. Tsunade – probably the best medical ninja alive. Back in the day when Konoha was at heavy war with the Sand Village, Tsunade was pretty much a full time medical ninja, inventing antidotes like crazy against poisons injected into the bodies of Konoha citizens that were protecting their beloved village.

After only about 10 minutes when he finished tracing all of Tenten's scars and bruises (and when the cream was all out), Tenten's eyes started twitching slightly. Her eyelids slowly opened.

Tenten blinked a few times, "Neji? Why are you touching me? And why don't I have clothes on?"

Something about Tenten's tone had changed. It wasn't that innocent naïve tone, it was demanding, sassy, and had an edge of sharpness to it. This was obviously not the clueless Tenten. The clueless Tenten often times sounded like Hinata, which Neji absolutely hated. One Naruto-obsessed weakling was already enough for Neji, then there was Hanabi who was destined to grow up like Hinata – Hanabi was already starting to admire Naruto.

Don't get Neji wrong, he respected the main branch since his own parents were both already dead. But Hinata's personality was just one of Neji's pet peeves, she was just way way way too shy and never spoke up for herself. She also lacked a ton of self-confidence. In Neji's opinion, she still wasn't cut out to be a kunoichi. If she ever went on an A-ranked mission, he was almost positive she'd get killed.

This is what made Tenten and Hinata different. He admired Tenten because she was strong, had a lot of self-confidence and always stood up for her rights – especially since she was a female. You'd always be sure to hear "Us kunoichis have to stick up for ourselves," or "Kunoichis are just as great if not better than shinobis" come from Tenten's mouth.

Anyways, back to Tenten's question. Neji found himself in kind of an awkward position, so he wasn't exactly sure how to answer.

"Well! Why don't I have clothes on?" Tenten repeated herself, the sass in her voice intensified.

Neji still stumbled to find the right words to explain the situation to her.

"And why aren't we at the ESAKE right now?" Tenten asked, looking around Neji's room.

"The what?" Neji questioned, a bit confused.

"The ESAKE. You know that uh…exam," Tenten continued.

Neji pondered her description for a moment before recalling the ESAKE. "Did you…regain your memory, Tenten?"

"_Regain_ my memory? When did I ever lose it?" Tenten questioned.

Before Tenten could say another word, she found Neji's lips pressed against hers, his arms wrapped around her body. Tenten couldn't help but return the favor, all her feelings of confusion melting away. All she could think about was Neji, his lips felt so good on hers, she loved it when he was close to her like this.

Their lips parted and Neji looked one more time at her, "I'm glad you're back."

A devilish grin broke out over Tenten's facial features, "Am I dreaming? Hyuuga Neji being concerned for someone? Hyuuga Neji actually worrying over someone else's well being? Hyuuga Neji showing EMOTION?"

Neji blushed a little and looked away, not responding to her teasing.

Tenten couldn't resist, she just had to continue, "Who are you and what have you done to _my_ arrogant little Neji-kun?"

Neji still didn't respond.

Tenten giggled to herself before firing some more of her ammunition at him, "So Ne-ji-kun. why did you decide to take off my clothes today? You know Hinata's dad would not approve if he saw us like this."

Neji plainly said without daring to meet her eyes, "I was healing your wounds."

Tenten pretended to gasp, "Hyuuga Neji – healing someone else? Why would he waste his time doing something like that?"

Tenten continued to giggle. Seeing Neji trying to ignore her, she cooed, "Come on Neji, I was just having some fun!"

She got closer to him, slipping her arm around his waist, putting her other hand on his cheek in a caring way. She lowered her eyelids a bit and looked into his eyes, "Tell me what happened at the exam."

Neji scowled and looked a different direction, "Long story."

Tenten pinched him, trying to get some sort of reaction from him, "Tell me." However, she still didn't get a response.

"You always ruin the fun," Tenten teased.

**A/N: Sorry if Chapter 8 was horrible :( Also, I don't hate Hinata, I'm just writing it in Neji's POV, and Hinata isn't exactly Neji's fav person if you know what I mean, so plz don't flame about me hating Hinata or anything, thanks :D I hope it wasn't **_**too **_**horribly OOC. Please review and tell me what you thought! I only have a few more days before I go to Asia, ahhhh, I'm gonna have to post the last couple chapters quickly!!!! Thanks for all your great reviews! Appreciate it:D**


	9. A Man Named Puberty

**A/N: I don't own Naruto. Enjoy!**

**---**

Chapter 9: A Man Named Puberty

Another intrusion was made that moment when Sakura knocked on the door. Tenten yelped a little, gathered her clothes scattered all over the bed and floor, and ran into the bathroom to change. She grabbed some normal clothes out of a drawer on the way to the bathroom. She was so caught up in Neji that she practically didn't realize that she had been stripped of her clothing. It didn't feel that unusual to be clotheless around Neji. In fact, she was actually quite used to it.

Neji snickered a little before allowing Sakura to enter.

The pink haired girl walked in slowly, she seemed to look around for Tenten as soon as she walked in.

Neji raised an eyebrow at the girl's strange body language, but remained silent.

Tenten came out of the bathroom in a pink oriental Asian style shirt and black capris, her hair tied up into two buns. The old Tenten was back again, the way Neji liked it. No more Hinata personality or white hospital gowns.

Sakura smiled warmly when she saw Tenten come out of the bathroom.

Tenten smiled back at her pink-haired friend, "Konichiwa Sakura."

Sakura's face lit up a bit more hearing the confident edge in Tenten's voice. Not that weak, shy voice that Tenten had when she had amnesia – although Sakura personally thought both of the Tenten's were very sweet, she was so much more used to this hardcore Tenten.

Neji was now sitting on the edge of the bed. Tenten smiled and, without warning, sat on Neji's lap.

"Tenten," Neji said in a subdued voice.

"Hn?" Tenten said cheerfully.

"You're heavy. Get off me," Neji explained in short phrases.

"No," Tenten said without thinking.

Neji clenched his fist, _what does she mean 'no?'_

Neji sighed, he would never be able to get this spunky Tenten off of him now. So instead he just decided to give in and play along. He wrapped his arms around Tenten's waist. Tenten giggled at his movements.

Before Neji could continue any farther, Tenten asked the pink haired ninja who was watching them, "Sakura."

"Hn?" came Sakura's voice.

"So, what happened at the ESAKE?" Tenten asked, she turned her head slightly toward Neji's, "Ne-ji-kun won't tell me."

Sakura threw a funny look at the Hyuuga, "You didn't tell Tenten anything?"

Neji didn't respond, his eyes were as emotionless as ever.

Sakura took a deep breath, "While you and Neji were fighting Naruto and Hinata, Ai was using genjutsu on you. Eventually she made you lose your memory."

Tenten clenched her fist, "I'm gonna mess her up so badly, she'll regret she ever…"

Neji cleared his throat loudly, making Tenten quiet down and listen to the rest of the story.

"And even creepier, she's Sato's daughter – meaning Sato told her to do this so you'd forget about Neji," Sakura made a face in disgust.

Tenten's face scrunched up, "Ew, that's disgusting," she looked at Neji, "and what happened to him?"

Neji snickered, "Ask Sakura."

Tenten looked at Sakura, expecting an answer.

Sakura giggled, "I left him with Tsunade-sama and explained what had happened," Sakura started cracking up a little, "the look on Tsunade-sama's face could've killed Sato on it's own. She was so furious when she heard what he did!"

Neji, still not smiling while thinking of Sato, asked, "What did she do about it?"

Sakura frowned a bit, "Well, Sato was dying anyways, so she just eased his pain a bit by uh…put him to sleep…" Sakura continued to giggle at the memories of the scene.

_FLASHBACK_

_There was a knock on the Hokage's office door._

"_Come in," Tsunade said, right after hiding the bottle of sake she was drinking in one of her drawers._

_The female Hokage was surprised to see her young apprentice literally dragging in a man, who was clutching his rib cage._

"_What's the meaning of this, Sakura?" the Hokage questioned._

_Sakura bowed in respect and explained, "This pervert and his daughter, Ai, are the ones that caused Tenten's amnesia using genjutsu."_

_Tsunade's eyes flamed with anger as she looked at the man, "__**YOU WERE THE ONE THAT DID THIS?!?**__"_

_Sato didn't dare answer but wimpered in fear._

"_**ANSWER ME!!**__" Tsunade yelled._

_Sato wimpered a bit more before whispering, "H-h-hai…"_

_Tsunade picked up a kunai on her desk and held it up in a threatening position, "__**WHAT? SPEAK UP!!!**__"_

"_H-H-HAI!" Sato confessed fearfully._

_Sakura could've swore she heard her master growl at him. Tsunade say down and took a deep breath. Without looking at Sakura she ordered, "Sakura, put this cold-hearted snake to sleep immediately."_

_Sakura hesitated a bit, she felt kind of odd putting Maito Gai's brother to sleep. It somehow felt wrong, how would Gai take it? Cheery, whole-hearted Gai, would he be crushed if he found out Haruno Sakura – the Hokage's own apprentice – ended his brother's life? Would Gai ever look at the pink-haired female the same way again? So many doubts and fears buzzing in Sakura's head at once._

_Seeing Sakura's hesitation, Tsunade broke in, "It's ok Sakura, Gai hates his brother, believe me."_

_Sakura nodded a bit, "Aa…"_

_Tsunade smiled and thought to herself, _Sakura is really too kind of a person to end someone's life.

_The Haruno felt a bit stupid in the Hokage's office, she wanted to kill the man so badly, but he was Gai's brother. That changed everything, why couldn't Gai just be an only child, that would make things so much easier. Why couldn't Gai's brother just be a normal ANBU or something, why'd he have to be a screwed up pervert that hits on girls 20 years younger than them?_

_Tsunade grinned devilishly and pulled out a needle at least a foot and a half long, "Don't worry Sakura, I'll show you how it's done."_

_Sakura couldn't help but giggle, "Shouldn't the process be painless?"_

_Tsunade tisked a bit, "I'll make an exception here. This won't hurt for too long."_

_Sato wimpered in genuine fear. Sakura ran out the door and shut it, but soon after she heard an immediate scream from inside the office. The Haruno couldn't help but giggle, after all, this man deserved it after all he's done to Tenten. Something caught Sakura's attention, what was going to happen to Ai? Sato's daughter was the same age as Sakura, Tenten, Neji, and the rest of the gang._

_A few moments after Sato was executed, Sakura walked into the office and asked quietly, "What are we going to do about Ai?"_

_Tsunade's brow furrowed deeply, "According to ANBU, she ran away from Konoha, so if you, Neji, or Tenten ever see her, you guys can kill her yourself…" the woman paused for a while, "but if you prefer not to, I would be honored to kill another messed up freak."_

_Sakura smiled and nodded before she closed the door, but before leaving she had to comment, "Try not to drink too much today, Tsunade-sama."_

_Sakura ran out the door, knowing Tsunade would get mad at the comment Sakura had just made. The Hokage didn't appreciate people commenting negatively about her drinking habits, but most people didn't because they knew of her incredible capabilities to kill. Sakura however, could tease Tsunade lightly because Sakura had almost the same inhumane strength as the Hokage._

_END OF FLASHBACK_

Neji nodded a bit as Sakura was explaining what happened to Sato. He was glad the man was at least dead, the Hyuuga never ever wanted to see him again. He had enough memories of his teacher and how he would always try to take advantage of Tenten when she was only 8 years old. Seriously, how sick can a person get? Neji pulled Tenten a little closer to him, the thought of Sato made him want to be the one that killed him.

Sakura continued her explanation, "Ai apparently is missing from Konoha, but the Fifth gave us permission to kill her if we ever happened to see her."

Tenten smirked, "I'll make sure I do…" Tenten paused, her mood worsened when she remembered how Ai used to try to seduce Neji in front of her, "that freak…always seducing Neji in front of me…"

Neji smirked a bit before kissing Tenten's neck and firming his grip around her waist, "Like I would actually fall for someone as shallow as her," he kissed a giggling Tenten's neck a few more times, "besides, I already have a perfect kunoichi right here."

Tenten blushed, she loved those rare moments when her Hyuuga would actually show emotion. But at the same time, she loved how he could also be emotionless, it gave him this sexiness. This is the reason why he had so many rabid fan girls. This is also probably the same reason for why Uchiha Sasuke had so many girls swooning over him, both him and Neji rarely showed emotion.

Sakura also added quickly, "Oh yeah, while I was on my way here from the Hokage's office, I ran into Lee..."

Tenten stiffled a laugh, "Did he try to win your heart again?"

Sakura laughed hesitantly, "A little…but uh…anyways! He told me to let you guys know that Gai is holding a training session tomorrow at your usual training ground…"

Tenten scowled, "Knowing Gai Sensei, he probably scheduled it at 4 AM…"

Sakura giggled, "He scheduled it at 3 AM because he was disappointed in how easily you fell for genjutsu at the ESAKE…so he feels you guys need to train more."

"WHAT?!" Tenten yelled, "Gai doesn't even care that I _lost my memory_??? Why I ought to…"

"We can be there at 3," Neji cut Tenten's rant off. He was always the calm one.

Sakura giggled again and stood up to leave, "At least you don't have Kakashi as your sensei. He's awful. He schedules a training session to be a 5 PM and doesn't come until 7," Sakura sighed heavily, "I don't even know why I bother to get there 'on time' when I know he's going several hours late…"

This time it was Tenten's turn to giggle, "Well Gai Sensei is completely different. If he's even 8 seconds late, he'll force himself to do 80 laps around Konoha…"

"On his hands," Neji and Tenten added at the same time.

Sakura smiled and stood up to leave, "Yeah, well I should be leaving now. Tsunade is expecting me back in a few hours to test my medical skills and I haven't practiced at all."

Tenten waved goodbye to Sakura as she left the couples' comfy home. As soon as the door closed behind them, Neji immediately tightened his grip around Tenten – who was still sitting on Neji's lap.

Tenten got off of Neji's lap and pretended to yawn loudly. The yawn was clearly exagerated. Tenten carefully walked over to "her side" of the bed and yawned again. She plopped onto the bed and closed her eyes, resting her hands delicately on her upper abdomen.

A few moments later, she felt Neji's body slowly find it's way ontop of hers. She grinned as Neji kissed her, she felt a huge sheet of relief cover her as she realized everything was finally back to normal. This same feeling of relief came through Neji's mind at the same time.

After a couple minutes of nonstop kissing, Tenten was about to stop breathing. She moaned loudly, trying to signal Neji to get off of her. Neji pretended to not hear her and continued to kiss deeper and deeper. She moaned louder, trying to push Neji's bodyweight off.

Seeing Tenten strggling harder to breath, Neji grinned and released the kiss.

Tenten gasped loudly.

After regaining her breath a bit, she panted loudly, "You haven't changed at all," and a grin passed her lips, "you're still the good kisser I've always known."

Neji faked a surprised expression, "Kissing? We weren't kissing. We were…training our endurance for tomorrow…"

Tenten grinned, "Shall we continue?"

As you can imagine, the night was pretty long and sweet for the two of them. They just kept training their "endurance" for hours.

After they were done with their "endurance training," Tenten lay on her bed exhausted and out of breath. She rolled over near the edge of the bed and breathed deeply. She felt Neji's arm slip around her waist.

The last words of the night were spoken by the Hyuuga before they dozed off to sleep, waiting for the events of training with Gai Sensei the next day.

"I'm glad you're back."

---

Amazingly everyone BUT the most punctual person had arrived at the training ground on time. Lee, Neji, and Tenten all looked around for a moment to see if this was some kind of trap.

"Byakugan," Neji activated his skillful bloodline limit.

Neji nodded a few minutes later in confirmation that this was not a trap, "Gai Sensei isn't anywhere near here."

Tenten stiffled a laugh, "What's gotten into him? He's always the earliest one here."

Neji shrugged the thought off, "We can just train alone for a while."

Lee squealed with joy at the idea of getting to train more, "Yes! I completely agree with Neji-san!"

Tenten sat on a tree stump, "Well I'm going to rest for a while. Once Gai Sensei gets here, he'll surely drive us to the ground," Tenten paused for a moment, "especially me. He'll probably say something like, 'Tenten, training you extra hard will not only whip you into shape but also help your brain recover!'"

Tenten sighed, "I'm gonna surely die today."

Neji, who was half listening to Tenten was making good use of his free time by drilling himself. He had been taking care of Tenten these past few days and hadn't trained much. He was just itching to improve.

Neji kept kicking the stump of a tree for a few minutes before turning to Tenten and asking, "Tenten, do you have a piece of cloth?"

Tenten dug around her satchel and looked up at Neji with an obnoxious grin when she found a thick strip of cloth, "What's wrong, did you have a wet dream last night?"

There was a hint of red that formed in Neji's cheeks. He looked at Tenten with _that's-not-even-funny _eyes. He remained calm, "No. Tenten. I did not. Have. A. Wet. Dream. Last night."

Lee's overactive curiosity couldn't help but show itself. He said in a high voice, "Neji-san, you dreamt of hoses and waterfalls in your sleep?"

The blush in Neji's cheeks brightened slightly, "No. Lee. I did not. Dream. About. Water. Last night."

Lee cocked his head at Neji innocently, "Neji-san, why are you talking in short choppy phrases? Is a wet dream something embarassing? What is a wet dream?"

Tenten couldn't help but blurt, "Yes Lee, Ne-ji-san here is embarassed. Did you hear that? _Hyuuga Neji is embarassed!_"

A grin passed Lee's lips. He squealed with immature delight, "I think I know what a wet dream is…"

Tenten shook her head a little and giggled, imagining what Lee's imagination thought of. "What do you think a wet dream is Lee?" Tenten found herself asking.

Lee squealed a bit and giggled, "Neji-san, you peed in your pants last night!!"

Tenten couldn't help but fall off the tree stump. She clutched her stomach laughing crazily, "Oh yes. That made my day Lee."

Neji, who was not amused asked, "Lee, how old are you?"

Lee pondered for a while and answered, "Twenty-one."

Neji scowled, "I hope you hit puberty soon."

Lee laughed obnoxiously. So obnoxiously, it was a bit scary. He snorted loudly before instantly calming down and blinking a few times. He looked confused, "Wait…what is…pooberty?"

Tenten continued to laugh on the floor, "_Pu_berty. Take a wild guess."

"Is he a man? Neji wants me to hit a man named _Pu_berty?"

Tenten continued to laugh, "Guess again."

"Tenten! Just give me my cloth!" Neji raised his voice.

The kunoichi giggled, "Not until Lee guesses correctly what puberty is."

Neji glared at Tenten, "Do you REALLY expect him to actually guess CORRECTLY?"

Lee sighed, "I do not know what this _pu_berty you speak of is."

Tenten smiled a bit before handing Neji the thick strip of cloth.

"What's it for?" Tenten asked.

Neji tied it around his head, forming a blindfold with it. He hung a target skillfully on the tree in front of him and asked Tenten for some kunais to throw at it.

"Tenten, do you have any kunais?"

Tenten grinned, "What for? Do you have to hit a man named Puberty with my kunais?"

Neji was losing his patience, "Tenten. I don't have time for this, give me a few kunais!"

Tenten smiled and said in a high voice, "What the magic wooord?"

Neji scowled, "Tenten!"

"Fine fine," Tenten handed him 5 kunais out of her satchel.

Neji skillfully hit the bullseye 5 out of 5 times on the target while blindfolded.

"Neji-san, you are truly amazing! You hit the bullseye every single time without even having to look at it!" came Lee's admiration.

Tenten smirked, "Neji's cheating. He's using his Byakugan," she paused and grinned before repeating, "That's right. _Hyuuga Neji is a cheater_!"

Neji ignored this comment, "Tenten, using Byakugan under a blindfold is a waste of time. Unlike you, I actually want to train myself to improve."

Tenten smirked again, "Why? To beat Sasuke and Naruto?"

Neji again didn't show much emotion to her comment, "I couldn't care less about beating them. I just want to improve because…"

"Because you want to look good for Tenten-chan!" Lee finished.

There was a sudden awkward silence. Neji felt Tenten hug him from behind, "Well, I would love my Ne-ji-kun even if he wasn't a prodigy."

Neji took off his blindfold and turned around to face Tenten, "Yeah right."

Tenten lightly rested her head on his chest while still hugging him, "Yeah you're right. I'd probably lose interest in you if you didn't have any special bloodline limits…" Tenten paused for dramatic effect, "and then I'd be one of Sasuke's rabid fan girls."

Neji looked at the kunoichi in a somewhat worried way.

She looked up at him with a grin, "Of course I'm kidding. I'd love you even if you were a Chouji."

Neji snickered, "A Chouji?"

All of a sudden, Gai Sensei seemed to pop out of no where with his cheery attitude.

"DEEPEST APOLOGIES TO MY FAITHFUL STUDENTS!!" He said loudly, a smile still plastered on his face.

Gai Sensei began to explain, "I actually ran into Kakashi and we had an interesting chat about our differences. He was explaining how that book he always read is wonderful and I argued that it wasn't and…"

"GAI SENSEI! NEJI AND TENTEN ARE ABOUT TO EMBRACE LIKE DOLPHINS, DO NOT RUIN THE MOMENT!!" Lee whined loudly.

Tenten and Neji both blushed thinking, _embrace like dolphins?_

**A/N: Chapter 9!! Yay! I'm leaving for the airport to Asia in about 7 and a half hours! So I'll try to type out Chapter 10 (last chapter) ASAP!!! Chapter 10 isn't going to be like super important I think…it's just going to be more fluff, so if I don't make it in time, don't freak out!! I will try my best!! Hope you liked the chapter, I **_**tried **_**to make it humorous, so uh…hope it turned out ok!! I get back from Asia on September 1…yeah that's a long time, and I don't know if there's gonna be computer access there, so uh…bear with me! Love you guys!!**


	10. Tenten's Nejikun

**A/N: I don't own Naruto. Enjoy!**

**---**

Chapter 10: Tenten's Neji-kun

Neji and Tenten both gave Lee a funny look. Tenten got the honors of asking the question that was on both of their minds, "Embrace…like…_dolphins_? Isn't that analogy a bit…inaccurate?"

Neither Gai Sensei nor Lee paid attention to this question. Gai bowed deeply and was surprisingly apologizing, "I apologize from the bottom of my heart. I did not know the youthful love between you two was so strong."

Tenten rolled her eyes, "Me and Neji weren't embracing, we were just…"

The kunoichi quickly realized the position she was in. She her arms were around Neji and his arms around her.

"I mean we weren't _embracing, _we were…" Tenten paused to think of a marginal excuse.

"We were training our balance," Neji filled in for Tenten. Neji pushed Tenten hard to the side, causing her to almost trip.

"You see, Tenten has really bad balance so I have to hold onto her as her support," Neji faked.

Lee fell for it for a little while before bringing up a point, "But then why were you guys talking about love and looking at each other with that intensity?"

Tenten quickly faked, "We're trying to distract each other. We're training our concentration and balance at the same time!"

Lee looked amazed, "Wow, Gai Sensei! Can I train my balance and concentration with you? I can think of a bunch of things to say that would distract you!"

Tenten hid a giggle as she imagined how things would turn out.

_TENTEN'S IMAGINATION_

"_Gai Sensei, you have beautiful eyes!"_

"_Thank you Lee, and you have delicious looking eyebrows!"_

"_But not as delicious as your smile, Gai Sensei! I could look at it from sunrise to sunset every day and I would die a happy person!"_

_END OF TENTEN'S IMAGINATION_

Neji watched her, knowing she was daydreaming. She blushed, feeling stupid that Neji had been watching her space out the whole time.

"Sorry Lee, I can't train with you guys today. I have to go to a funeral," Gai apologized.

Tenten gasped a little when she realized he was talking about Sato, "Gai Sensei…I'm so sorry…" (even though she wasn't)

"For what? My brother was a jerk," Gai seemed pretty enthusiastic about his brother's death.

_So true..._ Neji thought.

Without any last words from their Sensei, Lee youthfully said loudly, "Ja ne Gai Sensei!"

Gai Sensei laughed heartily and nodded at Lee. He grinned, looking back and forth and Neji and Tenten. He winked at Neji, suggesting he meant something along the lines of 'good luck with Tenten.' Gai slapped Neji hard on the back, causing a large gulp of air to force out of his lungs, and with that their insane instructor left. Neji gasped for air and rubbed his back which was now in pain.

Tenten giggled, "You need Lee to give you a back massage?"

Lee nodded cheerfully, "I would be glad to Neji-san!"

Neji winced at the idea of a Bruce Lee look-alike rubbing his back. As Lee reached his hands out toward Neji's backside, Neji tactfully moved a step toward Tenten and shook his head, "I'm fine Lee."

Lee backed up, and nodded in a sort of apologetic way. Neji glared sharply at Tenten. Tenten could tell by the look on Neji's face that he was asking why she suggested that Lee massage his back.

Neji finally spoke, "Shouldn't you be back home sleeping?"

Tenten questioned, "Why should I?"

Neji smirked, "Since Gai left we don't have to train. Seeing that you hate training so much, why don't you just let Lee and I train? You can take a rest."

There was a small pause before Neji grinned and added, "Besides, you're a kunoichi."

Almost instantly, a kunai appeared in Tenten's hand. She glared hard at him, "What...did you say?"

Neji's grin grew and he continued to taunt her, "I said, you should go home and sleep because you're. a. kunoichi."

Tenten leaped in the air and drew several kunais from a scroll and flung them endlessly at the Hyuuga. She picked the kunais that landed on the floor up with strings of chakra from her fingers and reused them.

The Hyuuga, on the flip side, was having a decent time dodging the kunais and momentarily spinning and releasing chakra to form a circular shield. After about ten minutes of straight attacking and defending, Tenten landed back on the ground and was panting for air, her face glistening with perspiration. Neji smirked, "Thanks for the training."

At that moment Tenten realized Neji had only taunted her to get her to help him train his defense. She panted a bit and said airily, "You jerk."

Neji grinned his famous grin before quickly appearing behind her. Tenten was caught off guard when he held her from behind. He whispered in her ear, "Yes, I am a jerk, aren't I?"

Tenten couldn't help but blush deep red. _That Hyuuga, always seducing his way out of trouble._

Lee spoke up, "Neji-san, I did not know you were so serious about balance training.

Neji immediately pushed Tenten hard out of his arms. This time a bit too hard, Tenten screamed a bit before ramming into a tree stump and tripping. She fell on the ground and moaned, rubbing her rear, "Neji. That really hurt..."

Neji explained to Lee, "Tenten's balance is horrible, as I said before."

Tenten glared at Neji before standing up and playing along unhappily, "Yeah sure, I have horrible balance."

Lee got sidetracked and shouted, "LOOK NEJI-SAN, TENTEN-CHAN!!!"

Lee pointed the opposite direction of where Neji was currently facing. Neji thought Someone was about to attack and quickly flipped around. Tenten also got ready for any possible combat.

"What is it?" Neji asked in a subdued tone.

Lee squealed, "Those flowers are the same color as the ones I saw on the way here!"

Tenten sighed in humiliation, _Lee, I REALLY hope you hit puberty soon._

Neji also let out a sigh in annoyance. He was about to turn around to face Tenten again but he found Lee grabbing him around to neck, forcing him to look in the direction that the youthful boy was pointing in.

"NEJI-SAN! DO YOU SEE THEM?? THE PERIWINKLE ONES!!"

Neji squinted but could not see what Lee was talking about, "I don't s..."

Before Neji could complete his comment, Lee tugged at his neck tighter and yelled louder, "OVER THERE!!!!"

Neji was pretty much being stranled at this moment. He gasped for air, "I don't s..."

Lee pulled even tighter and started jumping up and down, Neji's poor neck being the victim, "NEJI-SAN OVER THERE!!!!"

Neji squinted again, pretty much dying at this point, and finally realized where Lee was pointing.

He gasped, "Lee...those...flowers...are...orange..."

Lee released his strong grip and Neji gasped for oxygen, "Really...?"

_Stupid springtime youth is making Lee colorblind..._Neji scowled in his mind.

While Neji was still turned around and panting for air, Tenten grinned at this beautiful opportunity. She ran up to Neji without pausing for even a moment and kicked him hard in the back - the same place where Gai Sensei had slapped him.

Neji cursed loudly as he tried regaining his balance, but failed as soon as he tripped over the long roots of the orange flowers. He fell and held his back in pain.

"You see Lee, Neji-san here has even worse balance then I do," Tenten refrained herself from cracking up.

Neji didn't get up, instead he held his back in pain. Tenten walked over and knelt down beside Neji, "Are you ok Ne-ji-kun?"

Neji scowled at Tenten, "Barely."

Tenten grinned, "Let me take a look."

She undid his traditional robes and pulled them down no further than his waist. Lee covered his eyes, "Neji-san is naked! Neji-san is naked!"

"Shut up Lee," Neji's frown grew deeper.

Tenten touched the redish-purple spot on Neji's back lightly, causing Neji to wince in pain. Tenten grinned, "Good thing I brought some medicine Sakura gave me!"

She pulled out a large bottle of clear liquid and poured it all on Neji's back at once.

Neji closed his eyes in pain, "Tenten...it's...burning..."

Tenten smiled, "Good. That means it's working, ne?"

The bruise on Neji's back was not healing though, infact it was actually spreading. Tenten looked at the bottle and realized she had grabbed the wrong bottle. There was no label on it and she knew the correct bottle of medicine was labled with 'Medicine for Minor Injuries.' Without letting Neji know that she had made an error, she threw the bottle aside and reached into her satchel, digging around for another bottle. She quickly found an identical bottle and it read 'Medicine for Minor Injuries.' She stiffled a laugh before quickly dumping the whole bottle on Neji's back, hoping to make up for the other bottle of incorrect liquid.

Neji's face showed his relief when she poured the bottle of medicine on his back. He glared at Tenten, "Don't. Ever. Do. That. Again."

Tenten put her most innocent look on and asked childishly, "Do what Neji-sama?"

Neji scowled and stood up, quickly fixing up his robes at the same time.

Tenten giggled a last time before turning to face Lee. To her surprise, he popped up in front of her, eyes glistening with tears of joy, cheeks glowing pink with happiness.

"TENTEN-CHAN! NEJI-SAN! I HAVE A SURPRISE FOR YOU!" Lee squealed in a semi-high voice.

Tenten twitched a bit when she thought of the possibilities. Knowing Lee, there was a large variety of things he could possibly surprise them with. The surprise just might not be a pleasant surprise to Neji or Tenten.

_TENTEN'S IMAGINATION_

_"Tenten-chan, Neji-san, in honor of all Team Gai's hard work, I bought us all new uniforms!" Lee exclaimed._

_Tenten twitched again, "Oh...what do they look like...?"_

_Lee pulled out three bright orange jumpsuits, "They are all made out of the finest quiality spandex!"_

_Tenten stammered, "Isn't orange a bit...too bright?"_

_Lee looked even happier (if that was possible), "Of course! Everyone in Konoha shall know of Team Gai's amazing youthfulness!"_

_END OF TENTEN'S IMAGINATION_

Tenten knew she would flat out refuse if he offered them anything of that sort. She was not interested at all in a wardrobe change to Lee's taste - and she knew Neji would rather run 300 laps around Konoha too than look even a tiny bit like Lee or Gai Sensei. Tenten shook the thought of new uniforms out of her head but braced herself for what was going to be shot at her.

Neji also knew better than to expect a normal surprise. When Lee said he had a surprise, he really gives you a surprise with whatever childish thing he has.

Tenten asked reluctantly, "Whatever your surprise is doesn't happen to involve spandex...does it?"

Lee gave her an innocent look, "What is...sp-span...dex?"

_My goodness,_ Tenten thought inside her head. Honestly, sometimes Tenten wanted to sit Lee down in a first grade classroom and cram some common knowledge into that brain of his.

Lee continued to guess, "Is spandex a type of spider? If so Tenten-chan, I think Shino would be a better person to ask..."

Tenten mumbled to herself, "No Lee...I don't think Shino would like spandex."

Tenten didn't even want to imagine what Shino would look like with tight spandex on. Shino laughing was rare enough...but anyone in spandex but Lee and Gai Sensei...no...not in a million years.

Lee shoved a small green book - the color of his spandex suit - into Tenten's hands. Tenten read the title to herself, _Rock Lee's Super Exclusive Training Tips_. Neji looked over Tenten's shoulder to see what could be so astounding about this small green book.

They both sweatdropped. What in the world was this book that Lee handed to them? Judging by the name of the title, they guessed it was a book Lee wrote...about training.

Knowing Lee, it probably said something like 'Run 500 laps around Konoha, punch a tree stump 3000 times, do 274 squats, and do 560 one-handed pushups every single day of your life and you will be incredibly fit like my dear and youthful Gai Sensei.' The book was actually rather thick so it must not've been as simple as that. But could Lee have enough knowledge about training to write a whole textbook about training?

Of course he could, he always took notes on his little Kiropi notepad whenever Gai Sensei made even an unimportant comment about training. He probably already filled 40 of those little Kiropi notepads. Why Kiropi you ask - because green is his favorite color, and the loveable little frog is also green.

Tenten flipped open to the first page of the thick book, Neji leaning in close to her to get a closer look at the words written out in Lee's neat handwriting.

The brown-haired kunoichi read aloud, "Chapter One - Effective Endurance Training," which alone already made her wonder, "There is an effective way of training your endurance without having to run 500 laps aroun Konoha that I have discovered through years of training. Two ninjas get into a position resembling mouth to mouth resuscitation. But beware - you must find a ninja of the opposite sex to do perform this exercise properly. For exmaple, if you are a shinobi, you must find a kunoichi to do this exercise with. Shinobis cannot perform this exercise with other shinobis. Otherwise the chakra of the shinobi ontop would overpower the oppressed chakra system of the one on the bottom's, and this would most likely lead to rib cage rupture. The correct position to get in to do this exercise is shown on the next page."

Tenten looked at Neji, both thinking how Lee would draw a picture showing this awkward position. Tenten slowly flipped the page, bracing herself for whatever was going to be there. She hoped Lee's innocence would make the drawing very clean and un-awkward.

To her and Neji's surprise, it was the exact opposite of what they had expected. It was also the exact opposite of what they had wanted. On the next page was a high definition picture of Neji and Tenten in their undergarments.

Neji ontop of the kunoichi - making out with her. Oh yes, this was definitely the position for endurance training. Seeing this position made Tenten flush bright red.

"Lee..." Tenten hesitantly spoke up.

"Yes Tenten-chan?" Lee said, cheeriness still in his voice.

"Where did you get this picture?" Tenten asked, a bit scared of the answer.

Lee smiled, "Naruto-kun sold it to me for 10,000 yen when I told him I needed it for a book I was writing. He was very generous and said he would usually sell these exclusive pictures for triple the price!"

Tenten glowed with anger, imagining the blonde-haired boy selling embarassing photos to villagers in Konoha.

_Naruto...that pervert..._thought Tenten.

"Flip to the next chapter, Tenten-chan!" Lee squealed.

Tenten reluctantly flipped past 20 pages of endurance training information and finally reached the next chapter - Balance Training.

Tenten didn't even have to read it to know what the example was going to look like. She flipped one more page over and it was yet another high definition picture of Neji and Tenten - this time embracing.

Tenten gritted her teeth and asked Lee, "Did Naruto sell this one to you too?"

Lee nodded happily, "And it only cost me 9,000 yen for this one!"

Tenten flipped through the whole book and there were several pictures of Neji and Tenten in this small guide of his.

"Why did you write this, Lee?" Tenten asked loudly.

Lee looked innocently at Tenten again, "Because you told me I should, do you not remember, Tenten-chan?"

Tenten didn't believe it at first, but when she pondered this thought for a moment, she recalled a tiny sarcastic moment a while back.

_FLASHBACK_

_Neji walked up to her, still grinning, and grabbed her and held onto her. He kissed her and she held onto him too. After about only 45 seconds, they heard a "Neji-san! Tenten-chan!"_

_Neji swore as he released Tenten, _why does Lee always have to pop up when we're kissing and ruin the moment?

_Tenten blushed in embarassment when she was caught by the spandex boy. But instead of having a scolding face, he was crying…she couldn't tell if they were tears of sorrow or tears of joy…_

_"Lee…don't cry…" Tenten said slowly._

_"My deepest apologies, I am just so overjoyed," Lee started._

Tears of joy_, Tenten corrected herself._

_"that you and Neji-san work so hard on your endurance skills! I wish I had a partner. Tenten-chan, could you practice with me?"_

_Tenten looked at the boy who now had puppy dog eyes. He still believes us about the endurance training? Wow…_

_"Lee…" she started._

_It was Neji's turn this time to make up an excuse, "You can't. Once a shinobi has already trained this technique with a kunoichi, he or she cannot practice this with anyone else…"_

_Lee slapped his forehead, "Ohhh. Of course! It is so obvious! Because of the chakra flow through the shinobi and kunoichis' mouths, the body has already recognized that unique chakra type and cannot handle another type of chakra, or else that would cause the immune system to overload and that would result in fatal internal problems."_

_Tenten stared at Lee and then glanced at Neji. Neji shrugged and said, "Uhh…yeah…"_

_Tenten sighed, "Wow Lee…you could write your own book with that unique knowledge of yours…"_

_Lee's eyes glistened and he asked in a high-pitched voice that only happened when he was really happy, "Really?"_

_Tenten shrugged, "Sure."_

_Lee leaped in the air and squealed, "Yay! Tenten-chan has told me I am a very wise shinobi!"_

_END OF FLASHBACK_

Tenten sighed heavily, "Lee...what do you plan to do with this book of yours?"

Lee grinned, "It was already approved by Tsunade-sama to be part of the Konoha Academy's curriculum."

Tenten paused a moment, "Excuse me?"

Lee continued to brag, "Hokage-sama loved it so much, she approved it to be the main textbook for training techniques in Konoha Academy's curriculum."

Tenten clenched her fists as she imagine Tsunade grinning with delight as she looked through all the pictures of her and Neji together. She probably thought this was some kind of joke. Embarassing Neji and Tenten in front of all the students in Konoha. Well, neither Neji nor Tenten were laughing at all.

Tenten sighed, letting out a little bit of her anger, "Oh well, I'll talk to Tsunade about it in a few days or something. I'm sure she's not REALLY that cruel."

"Cruel? Why would approving my book be cruel?" Lee questioned naively.

Tenten sighed once again, "Lee, sometimes I wish you would have just a LITTLE bit of common sense. That would be nice."

Lee blinked a few times, indicating he still didn't understand.

Neji grabbed Tenten's hand and started leading her away from the training ground in which they were currently standing on, "Come on Tenten. We can sort this out later. I'm not in the mood for training."

Tenten pretended to gasp, "Hyuuga Neji? Slacking off? What has the world come to?"

Neji dragged her arm harder. The two of them leaving Lee behind and walking home.

Lee yelled, "Where are you two going?"

Tenten yelled back, "Neji-sama is going to sleep, he's cranky today because he didn't get his all his beauty sleep this morning!"

Lee blinked a few times, "Neji-san has beauty sleep time?"

Tenten thought to herself, _of course, how else would Neji's hair grow so long and lush? With some make up, Neji could do a shampoo commercial with that killer hair of his. _

They left Lee, Tenten's last words for the day to him being, "Ja ne!"

---

"Where are we going, Neji?" the brown haired kunoichi asked the Hyuuga when she realized they were not heading the direction of their home.

Neji grinned, "Bathhouse."

Tenten frowned, "You should've asked me. I don't want to go in that bathhouse."

Neji smirked, "Why? Last time you seemed to be having fun."

Tenten recalled the last time they were at the bathhouse together. She had to admit, she had a good time that close to Neji. But she still didn't feel comfortable in the bathhouse. She always felt like there would be some 40-year-old pervert hitting on her in that bathhouse. After all, she _did _have a scarred childhood – Sato being her former teacher. This was one reason she hated going to places she felt old perverted men would be – like bars.

Tenten replied, "The guys aren't separated from the girls here."

Neji raised an eyebrow, "So? Are you saying you don't want to be with me?"

Tenten grinned, "Maybe."

Neji made a sound indicating he wanted to know the real reason she didn't want to go in.

Tenten sighed, "I don't enjoy being around people like…like…Jiraiya…and Kakashi."

Neji smirked, "So you're scared of old perverted men?"

Tenten grabbed Neji's hand, "Maybe," meaning yes.

Neji sighed, "Fine, we can go home then."

Before Tenten had a chance to thank Neji for letting her leave, her cell phone rang. Tenten indicated to Neji to wait a second. Tenten checked to see who was calling. Her phone screen read, _Haruno Sakura._

Tenten flipped open her phone, "Hello?"

"Tenten, where are you and Neji?"

Tenten's brow furrowed, "What are you talking about?"

"Did you forget the whole gang of ninjas were going to Ichiraku's Ramen Bar to eat tonight?" Sakura asked urgently.

Tenten had completely forgotten this arrangement since Sakura had planned it like a month ago. That medical ninja was always so punctual and prepared. Seriously, who plans a dinner at a ramen bar one month ahead of time?

"Oh, I completely forgot!" Tenten spoke loudly into the phone before adding, "Me and Neji will be there in like 5 minutes.

Sakura's voice came through the phone again, "Be sure to dress formally, I told everyone else to because it's like a reunion."

Tenten furrowed her brow, "Oh, uh…then give us 10 minutes. We have to go back home to change."

Sakura snickered, "Ok, don't stare at each other's bodies for too long. We expect you to be here in 10 minutes sharp."

Tenten blushed a bit, "_Goodbye_, Sakura," Tenten said while closing her phone.

"What was that all about?" Neji asked.

"Did you forget about the dinner arrangement we made with the others a month ago? We have to dress formally and go to Ichiraku's in 10 minutes," Tenten explained quickly.

Tenten grabbed Neji's hand and sprinted back home, gussying up as quickly as possible.

---

Tenten panted heavily, "Sorry we're late everyone…we totally forg…" Tenten's jaw almost dropped when she walked into Ichiraku's. Neji was in a tuxedo, and Tenten was in a long lavender silk kimono. She was wearing her nicest high heels and dangly earings. On top of all that she was wearing special clips to pin up her buns with real jewels on them.

What were the others wearing? Normal apparel. Naruto and his orange jumpsuit. Hinata and her big puffy jacket. Sakura in her red Haruno dress. Shino in his turtleneck-like jacket. And you get the picture.

Naruto grinned and whistled wolfishly. "Did you guys just come from a date?" Naruto said loudly.

Tenten looked at Sakura who was trying not to crack up, but you could clearly see on her face that she had set them up. Tenten glared at her, _that Haruno. Always trying to put me and Neji on the spot._

Neji was also embarrassed, but didn't show it – after all, Hyuugas don't show emotion. Neji and Tenten gingerly took their seats and suffered the consequences of falling into Sakura's trap the whole night.

Everyone was making fun of Neji, since he always denied he didn't have any special feelings for Tenten. Some of them included:

"I thought Hyuuga's didn't know how to love." –Sasuke

"I'll buy you some extra roast beef so you can share with Tenten." –Chouji

"Is the baby a boy or girl?" –Naruto…duh

"I'm warning you, girls are troublesome." –Shikamaru

But since Neji and Tenten were true lovers, they didn't mind. After all, true love could endure even the toughest challenges…like Naruto's taunting. Tenten simply smiled at Neji and laid her head on his shoulder, "Yes, I love my Neji-kun." And that was that.

**A/N: THE END! Yes, I'm glad I could find internet connection in Asia! I know I made you guys wait forever! I'm sowwy. I hope the ending wasn't too corny. I ALMOST ran dry of ideas, but I was like, 'No, I will not disappoint my readers.' Hehe, I love you guys. I have some new ideas for the next story. I'm not making anymore sequels to this story though, sorry. My next story will be a fresh start. Also please review and feel free to email me. My email is simply nejiandtentenfan (at) gmail (dot) com. Love ya'll and hope you guys thought the ending was ok…:D **


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